What should one look for in a shoe? Style? Perhaps. Exclusivity? Maybe. The ability to improve posture, tone up muscles, reduce weight and banish cellulite? Now you're talking.
The Masai Barefoot Technology (MBT) - "the Rolls-Royce of exercise sandals" according to Harriet Griffey in the Independent - is the brainchild of a Swiss engineer, Karl Muller. Muller designed the shoes to alleviate his chronic back and leg pain after noticing that the Masai people, who walk long distances barefoot over uneven terrain, never suffered the same sort of back or joint problems as those in the industralised world. The MBT consists of "a 12-layered, curved sole, that forces the foot to utilise its natural movement, while engaging those muscles in the leg, abdomen and lower back that are designed to be used when we walk", explained Giffey.
At first the shoes were sold in Switzerland and Germany as specialist footwear. Then papers started to write that walking in the shoes burns up to five times more calories than walking in ordinary shoes, so they could aid weight loss, sort out varicose veins and banish cellulite.
They have been selling "like hot cakes in Europe, and now it has found a toehold, so to speak, in the US", said William Grimes in the New York Times, "thanks to its billing as 'the anti-cellulite sneaker'". Grimes bought a pair and was given an instructional DVD as well as a training class, where his gait was analysed and corrected.
But the health benefits come at a price, and not just the £119.99 you will pay if you can find a pair - there is a 1,000-strong waiting list in London alone. "With its thick, convex sole" the sandal "is no beauty", pointed out Grimes. "These unglamorous but trendy shoes are an acquired taste," agreed Bonnie Estridge in the Daily Mail. She gave them 10/10 for health but 2/10 for style.
In the Times, Lisa Armstrong confirmed the sandals' popularity but also felt obliged to point out they were a "touch Shrek-like in appearance". They certainly improved posture but "for my taste, they're fit only to be worn with very long trousers. But God, they feel blissful - and at this time of year, one out of two is as good as it gets."
