Are these the Ultimate Travel Shoes? Vivobarefoot Primus Trail Review
As a traveller, you’ll likely spend a lot of time on your feet. If you’re anything like us, you’ll be hiking, climbing, and biking on trails, dirt roads, and (sometimes) through torrential rain. So it’s essential to have good shoes that will keep you comfortable and help you avoid blisters. That’s why I’m on the hunt for the ultimate travel shoe! Today, I’m reviewing the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail sneakers.
WHAT ARE BAREFOOT SHOES?
I love walking around without shoes, feeling the sand under my feet or the grass between my toes. But it’s not always possible or safe to do that. Vivobarefoot is a UK-based company creating shoes that mimic that ‘barefoot’ feeling, giving your feet room to do their thing.
Vivobarefoot is adamant that we should trust our feet more. The human foot is an evolutionary masterpiece and the body’s support base. Humans have been walking and running for hundreds of generations, and we’ve evolved to keep doing just that! Wide, flexible, and sensory, your feet are made for everything life throws at you.
Your feet have tons of nerve endings: the part of the brain that gets information from the feet is the same size as the part that gets information from the hands! But modern shoes with cushioned footbeds don’t mimic the natural shape of the foot, or allow your feet to feel the ground. This can make us move with less stability and more clumsiness.
Basically, letting your feet do their natural thing can prevent long-term injuries, lead to better posture, and stronger feet. If you’re interested, you can read more about the science behind barefoot shoes here.
Vivobarefoot shoes are deliberately engineered to work with the foot, helping it to do it’s natural thing rather than cocoon it. Like the sound of that? Keep reading for our Vivobarefoot Primus Trail Shoes Review!
I don’t actually have any photos of new-out-of-the-box Vivo Primus Trail FG Trainers. All photos here are of my 18-month old Vivo sneakers, which have been through the works! I think they still look great – further testament to the awesomeness of this brand.
WHY VIVOBAREFOOT?
As you may (or may not) know, I like to pack light. When space is limited, every item has to count. That’s why I was so excited to try out a pair of Vivobarefoot Primus Trail shoes. Lightweight, packable, durable and flexible, these trail trainers offered the grip of hiking boots without the bulkiness.
Vivobarefoot are also super sustainable company, which is important to me. Despite not advertising this (they believe they still aren’t sustainable enough!), Vivobarefoot are a certified B-corporation and have been since 2020. The ethos behind the company is that ‘barefoot shoes keep us aligned with nature, encouraging us to make a difference’. Their shoes are fairly-manufactured and can be sent in for repair or resoling, resold back to Vivobarefoot, or recycled at the end of their life. You can read more about their sustainability journey here.
I went for the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail sneakers (£135 GBP, $165 USD), which were advertised as tough yet light and flexible all-terrain trail trainers. The Primus Trail FG (standing for firm-ground) shoe is vegan and made entirely from recycled materials. I found my favourite colour, a gorgeous green-blue pair, in the sale. Cute, comfortable, and coming in at under 500g per pair, the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail sneakers matched my vibe and my desire to pack light.
After realising my Tropicfeel Canyon sneakers weren’t up to the challenge, I bought the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail trainers as the only (proper) shoes I planned to take on an active 3-month backpacking trip around Central America.
So let’s dive into the review!
The Pros
- Lightweight (just 500g/14oz) per pair
- Cute sneakers with rotating styles and colours
- Durable, high quality materials
- Ethically made from vegan, post-consumer recycled plastic
The Cons
- Expensive!
- If you’re new to barefoot shoes, you need to work up to longer-distance hikes
- Not great for rainy weather
- The laces are a little annoying.
Guatemala’s hardest hike in Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FG Hiking Trainers
WHAT'S HOT?
There are a couple of Vivobarefoot Primus Trail trainer models. In addition to the ‘hiking’ style, Vivo also offer a ‘knit‘ style, which is more suited to trail running. I chose the Vivoabrefoot Primus Trail FG: the trail shoe made for hiking specifically.
The Vivobarefoot Primus Trail trainers screamed ‘quality’ immediately out of the box. This particular hiking shoe is made with 98% high-performance, post-consumer recycled plastic waste. The materials are vegan-friendly too, which I love! The Vivo Primus Trail sneakers also look really good, which surprised me, as barefoot shoes have a reputation for being unfashionable.
These were my first pair of barefoot shoes, and I was surprised by how comfortable they were. The Vivobarefoot Primus Trail trainers are lightweight, durable, flexible, and relatively thin in the sole. This means you can feel the ground under your feet, which was a little weird at first, but I quickly got used to it.
But over time, this thinner sole becomes an advantage – it helps you read the terrain. Because I could feel the ground more, I found that my stability increased. I was more sure-footed and confident with my foot placement whilst hiking and scrambling. I trip and stumble much less in barefoot shoes, and haven’t had a twisted ankle whilst wearing the Vivo Primus Trail sneakers. As a self-proclaimed ‘clumsy girl’, this is great!
Vivobarefoot Primus Trail Trainers also helped with my balance. With balance comes agility, confidence, and pleasure. I enjoy the trail more now. I can hop from rock to rock, scramble up scree, and am confident that my feet won’t slip.
Exploring Nicaragua in Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FG Hiking Trainers
WHAT'S NOT SO HOT?
Honestly, I can’t really fault these shoes. They were pretty comfortable straight out of the box! But as my first pair of barefoot shoes, they did take a while to get used to. I didn’t realise how much my heels hit the ground when I walk, and almost had to train myself to walk differently. The first few weeks of wearing these were tough, and my feet ached but by the time our Central America trip came around, I was used to them!
If you’re a normal shoe wearer, Vivobarefoot recommends that you may need a while for your feet and ankles to adjust to this style of shoe before they become comfortable. You need give your feet time to harden up. A lifetime of cushy shoes and arch support has made them soft. Vivobarefoot do offer a 100 day ‘trial’ though, and if you find out that barefoot shoes are not for you, you can send them back for a full refund, no questions asked.
The only thing I didn’t love about the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail Trainers was the laces. They’re a super easy pull-to-adjust quick-lace system, which makes the shoes great for slipping on and off. But, the laces do tend to flap around which I found annoying. I ended up tucking them under the laced-up part, so it wasn’t really an issue.
The shoes are also not incredibly grippy on softer terrain. This was fine in Central America! But, I don’t get as much wear out of them now that I’m back home hiking in muddy, wet, boggy Scotland! If you want something more suited to wet and muddy terrain, check out this review of the Vivobarefoot Magna Forest Esc hiking boots.
The shoes are also definitely not for biking. I find it very hard to cycle in barefoot shoes. My feet slip all over the place! Don’t expect to do anything more than a casual pedal around in them. That said, they aren’t really made for cycling, and that’s ok by me!
Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FG Hiking Trainers – loved by dogs
HOW DID THE VIVOBAREFOOT PRIMUS TRAIL TRAINERS HOLD UP FOR LONG-TERM TRAVEL?
I took two pairs of shoes backpacking with me in Central America: my trusty Teva sandals, and these Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FG hiking trainers. Happy with the quality and comfort of the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail trainers, these were the only closed-toe travel shoe I wanted to take to Central America.
I wore them:
- In Peru during the 4-day Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu. They needed a clean after the dusty trails but they were so comfortable
- Hiking up and boarding down volcanoes in Nicaragua. Despite the wider footbed, they stayed on my feet just fine!
- Climbing Volcan Acatenango in Guatemala. My entire body ached after this hike, but my feet held up ’til the end
- Exploring Honduras, when I wasn’t diving with fins of course!
- To the summit of Santa Ana Volcano in El Salvador
- Scooter-ing around Costa Rica searching for cool wildlife.
- And more!
Honestly, I wouldn’t take anything else travelling with me now. The shoes are breathable, they dry quickly, and they’re super lightweight. The grip is great on firm ground. And, the Primus Trail sneakers are so lightweight that they can be easily shoved in my backpack without taking up much space.
As far as travel trainers go for long backpacking trips, the Vivobarefoot Primus Trail trainers are my perfect shoe!
VIVOBAREFOOT PRIMUS TRAIL REVIEW: THE VERDICT
Overall, the shoes are super super comfortable, and have been from the moment I tried them on. They were my only travel shoes during a longest-yet backpacking trip. I’ve put them through their paces, abusing them on muddy runs, dusty hikes, and through torrential rain, and they still look great.
Wearing Vivobarefoot shoes has been like slipping my feet into a second skin. The soles are tough enough to keep my feet from being damaged whilst still allowing me to feel everything, which increased my stability and confidence when hiking over difficult terrain.
The fit, quality, ethics and performance of these lightweight barefoot sneakers all get a big thumbs up from me. While they may be more expensive than other trainers, they’re breathable, instantly comfortable and lightweight enough to shove in a small backpack. That seems like a price worth paying.
And, if you need more reason to justify a higher cost, look into the brand’s responsible business practices. Vivobarefoot manufactures ethically, pays fair wages, uses as many post-consumer recycled materials as possible, and is dedicated to building a circular business model, where shoes can be repaired, or re-sold to keep them in circulation for longer. And they still believe this isn’t enough. If that’s not a sustainable business model, I’d like to see one that is!
Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FG Hiking Trainers on the trail
CHOOSING VIVOBAREFOOT: SIZING ADVICE
Ahh… the sizing…
Barefoot shoes are, well, funky when it comes to sizing. Too big, and they slip off. Too small, and your feet will start to feel cramped as you adjust to a slightly different way of walking. You need to get the sizing right on these, but don’t worry, there’s a whole world of measuring advice on the website.
I bought my usual size (UK 5, EU 38) in the Vivobarefoot Primus FG Trail shoes. Luckily, that was the only size left in the colour that I wanted. But in hindsight, I should have used the Vivo sizing tool, and sized up.
The shoes felt great when I first tried them on. But as my feet became used to barefoot shoes, my toes started spreading out more when walking. This is normal and expected – you’re giving your feet room to move after all – but it meant that my toes ended up pushing against the end of the shoe. I ended up removing the insole to give my feet a little more wiggle room, which worked! But without the insole, I could really feel every bump on the trail.
I still loved my Vivos though, and ended up sizing up for my next pair, which fit like a glove! My top tip would be to trust the website’s size advice, even if it isn’t your usual size! They know their products best.
FAQs
Q: ARE VIVOBAREFOOT SHOES DURABLE?
Absolutely. They might look thin and flimsy, or expensive for what you get. But I’ve really abused mine and they still look and feel great.
Q: ARE VIVOBAREFOOT SHOES TRUE TO SIZE?
The sizing for barefoot shoes can be a bit off, but don’t worry. Vivobarefoot have a great sizing tool on their website to make sure you’re getting the right fit. And, if it’s not right, you have 100 days to return your shoes for a full refund, even if you’ve worn them!
Q: ARE VIVOBAREFOOT SHOES WATERPROOF?
Depends on the shoe! Make sure to carefully read the description if waterproof shoes are important to you.
Q: DO YOU NEED SOCKS WITH VIVOBAREFOOT SHOES?
I’d definitely recommend wearing socks with these shoes, more for comfort than anything. Despite the ventilation, they can get quite sweaty! Socks were a must to stop my feet from rubbing.
Q: ARE VIVOBAREFOOT SHOES GOOD FOR HIKING?
Again, it depends on the shoe. Some Vivobarefoot shoes, like the Primus Trail FG in this review, are perfect for hiking – that’s what they’re made for! Vivobarefoot also make casual shoes for everyday wear, and specialist shoes for running and swimming.
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Alice
Alice is a UK travel blogger who advocates sustainable travel and being more eco-conscious on a budget. She loves coffee, her houseplants and summiting mountains.
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