TUNEfootwear: company and product review (Minimalist dress shoes!)

TUNEfootwear

Today we have a company (and a shoe!) that I am pretty excited about. 

The company was founded by a normal 9-5 guy named Mike Norris who, like most of us, tried minimalist shoes and never looked back.  His problem?  Again, same as a lot of us, he was required to wear business dress shoes for work and “everyday felt like I was banging my head against the wall because I was wearing these shoes that were killing my feet!”  Where Mike is Not like most of us, he decided to do something about it and in 2011 launched the beginnings of TUNEfootwear

Currently, TUNEfootwear is using indiegogo to raise funds to get their shoes to the masses (tradeshows, etc.) so be sure to check out their video and their story here!

Introducing the TUNEfootwear Ornament

For all of us who have searched the world over for a minimalist dress shoe, who have scoured racks at cheap shoe stores trying to find something with no heal, who have given up and worn solid black Puma athletic shoes with pinstripe dress pants (yep… guilty)…. Search no more.

A little background:   Everything I wear is zero drop, everything, all the time.  Running shoes, workout shoes, casual shoes, hiking boots, trail running shoes, going to the grocery store shoes, everything.  So dress shoes… sucked.  For Brown I had to wear VivobarefootDharma (“but those aren’t dress shoes” I know.  You’re right.)  and for black, I literally wore a pair of Puma all black all leather athletic shoes (and tried to never need black dress shoes…).  For casual, I’d wear boots, all the time (because I did finally find a few pair of nice zero drop boots – another of which you’ll be hearing about in the next week or 2).

So, when I heard about this startup company, I was very intrigued.  Digging a little deeper I started holding my breath in hopes that they were as good as their marketing people (person ;)

They are.

The leather is beautiful, soft, supple, and genuinely feels like nice leather (which it is… but you know how some leather feels more like plastic?  Not these).

Attention to detail is great, from the stitching, to the hardware; truly a well crafted shoe.

They are built minimal from the ground up, extremely comfortable, and very sharp looking - at home beneath a nice pair of blue jeans, slacks, or a suit and tie.  For the review, I tried out the black ones but would LOVE to get my hands on a pair of the Tan – they are gorgeous!).

It’s like secretly walking around in a pair of house slippers camouflaged as dress shoes.  Also, should you decide to Clark Kent it one day and take off to run down a bad guy in your suit and tie, they are game (no kidding – the rubber sole and wide fit truly make them feel like any other minimalist shoe-as they should!)

·         Thin flat rubber sole

·         Soft leather

·         Zero drop

·         Nice wide toebox

·         Perfectly flexible

·         Extremely light weight

·         And a HUGE plus – these shoes are only $100 (as compared to certain other ‘minimalist’ dress shoe startups charging upwards of $350…)

·         They also wear great with or without socks.

TUNEfootwear offers a current lineup of 4 shoes in combinations of 3 different colors: 
Ornament, Tassel, Penny, and Boat:

I have to say, I really do Love these shoes.  Also, as always, I’m a huge sucker for a company’s story, and Mike has a great one!

Remember to check them out on indiegogo.com and help support this startup!