Bare necessities
72 Umbrella Style
Pictures Ron Timehin
Style Umbrella 73
Words Tayler Wilson Further information vivobarefoot.com
Bare necessities Tayler Wilson travels to Portugal to meet Galahad Clark, sixth-generation shoemaker and the man behind Vivobarefoot, a company dedicated to a more natural way of walking
+ Above, Vivobarefoot’s new Handcut Opanka Lace shoes at its factory in Portugal
74 Umbrella Style
Style Umbrella 75
+ Clockwise from above, Galahad Clark with one of his creations; archive designs; shoeboxes at the factory in Sao Joao da Madeira; shoes under construction; a finished pair of Porto Heel Rocker shoes
G
alahad Clark is on a mission. One to make us walk like our ancestors did with the aid of some ingeniously designed shoes. A member of the famous shoemaking clan, Galahad grew up in Street, Somerset, where Clarks Shoes still has its HQ. During the ’90s he moved to New York to study, forming a friendship with hiphop group Wu-Tang Clan at college. The unlikely bond led to the Wallabee-inspired ‘Wu Shoe’ collaboration later in the decade following an “interesting meeting” with his father, Lancelot. Since 2012, however, his priorities have been with the brand he and cousin Asher launched in 2004: Vivobarefoot – which, as the name suggests, is geared to getting people to reconnect with a
more natural way of walking. Up until recently, its shoes have been activity-focused, but the new Handcut collection brings fashion and traditional shoemaking methods into the equation. “We’re trying to create a traditional, goodlooking shoe that still ensures you walk as God intended,” says Galahad at one of Vivobarefoot’s two factories in Sao Joao da Madeira, Portugal. “It’s important for a shoe to be flexible, but most aren’t.” He aims to create shoes that not only look great, but enable the foot to move as it was intended. “As humans, we left Africa 70,000 years ago and we didn’t have hoofs or pads on our feet. So, one of the first tools we made were shoes to give us protection. Shoes should really be the shape of your foot, and that’s our aim.”
New range
Men’s Lisbon Rocker, £240
Unisex Porto Rocker, £200
Unisex Opanka Slip-on, £180
Wu shoe In the early ’90s, Clarks was considering selling itself to an investor, but the WuTang Clan’s endorsement of Wallabees gave the model, and Clarks, a real boost. The brand then moved from a manufacturingbased company to one driven more by consumer marketing – as can be seen in its Originals range. Which, when you have guys like Tony Starks rapping the praises of your comfortable kicks and Ghostface Killah releasing a record called The Wallabee Champ, made perfect sense.
Each model Galahad and his team creates features a curved heel known as: the ‘heel rocker’. “We started making traditional shoes in Portugal again,” he says, “and realised our first shoes had quite a conventional 90-degree angle [at the heel] and you lose what barefoot is.” That’s now been fixed. The innovative system on the Handcut range creates a softer heel strike, causing less muscle strain on the shin. The curved heel is contoured to the natural foot shape for a smoother heel stroke, instead of a jarring heel strike you find with normal shoes. Vivobarefoot’s goal of finding the perfect balance between comfort, health and style seems a near-on impossible task in the mad world of fashion, but the latest work seems to have found the ideal blend. Maybe we should all go barefoot once in a while.
Pictures Ron Timehin
Style Umbrella 73
Words Tayler Wilson Further information vivobarefoot.com
Bare necessities Tayler Wilson travels to Portugal to meet Galahad Clark, sixth-generation shoemaker and the man behind Vivobarefoot, a company dedicated to a more natural way of walking
+ Above, Vivobarefoot’s new Handcut Opanka Lace shoes at its factory in Portugal
74 Umbrella Style
Style Umbrella 75
+ Clockwise from above, Galahad Clark with one of his creations; archive designs; shoeboxes at the factory in Sao Joao da Madeira; shoes under construction; a finished pair of Porto Heel Rocker shoes
G
alahad Clark is on a mission. One to make us walk like our ancestors did with the aid of some ingeniously designed shoes. A member of the famous shoemaking clan, Galahad grew up in Street, Somerset, where Clarks Shoes still has its HQ. During the ’90s he moved to New York to study, forming a friendship with hiphop group Wu-Tang Clan at college. The unlikely bond led to the Wallabee-inspired ‘Wu Shoe’ collaboration later in the decade following an “interesting meeting” with his father, Lancelot. Since 2012, however, his priorities have been with the brand he and cousin Asher launched in 2004: Vivobarefoot – which, as the name suggests, is geared to getting people to reconnect with a
more natural way of walking. Up until recently, its shoes have been activity-focused, but the new Handcut collection brings fashion and traditional shoemaking methods into the equation. “We’re trying to create a traditional, goodlooking shoe that still ensures you walk as God intended,” says Galahad at one of Vivobarefoot’s two factories in Sao Joao da Madeira, Portugal. “It’s important for a shoe to be flexible, but most aren’t.” He aims to create shoes that not only look great, but enable the foot to move as it was intended. “As humans, we left Africa 70,000 years ago and we didn’t have hoofs or pads on our feet. So, one of the first tools we made were shoes to give us protection. Shoes should really be the shape of your foot, and that’s our aim.”
New range
Men’s Lisbon Rocker, £240
Unisex Porto Rocker, £200
Unisex Opanka Slip-on, £180
Wu shoe In the early ’90s, Clarks was considering selling itself to an investor, but the WuTang Clan’s endorsement of Wallabees gave the model, and Clarks, a real boost. The brand then moved from a manufacturingbased company to one driven more by consumer marketing – as can be seen in its Originals range. Which, when you have guys like Tony Starks rapping the praises of your comfortable kicks and Ghostface Killah releasing a record called The Wallabee Champ, made perfect sense.
Each model Galahad and his team creates features a curved heel known as: the ‘heel rocker’. “We started making traditional shoes in Portugal again,” he says, “and realised our first shoes had quite a conventional 90-degree angle [at the heel] and you lose what barefoot is.” That’s now been fixed. The innovative system on the Handcut range creates a softer heel strike, causing less muscle strain on the shin. The curved heel is contoured to the natural foot shape for a smoother heel stroke, instead of a jarring heel strike you find with normal shoes. Vivobarefoot’s goal of finding the perfect balance between comfort, health and style seems a near-on impossible task in the mad world of fashion, but the latest work seems to have found the ideal blend. Maybe we should all go barefoot once in a while.
