The Vibram Furoshiki – Technology Wrapping Around Your Foot

Italian sole giant, Vibram, with its pinnacle innovation and rich history once again provides us with another high-performance rubber sole. As a brand dedicated to improving the way we do things, from daily walks to climbing the highest of mountains, the Vibram Furoshiki wrapping shoe is yet another addition to the Vibram arsenal that with its technology helps us walk, run, and leap with more confidence. Although, this innovative concept would not be born whilst walking trails or scaling mountains, but instead thanks to the collaboration with Isao Hosoe Design, combined with Vibram hard-wearing outsole.

Named after the Japanese art of Furoshiki [wrapping something up, carefully and considered], this versatile model launched in 2015 and has since won awards such as the ADI Compasso d’Oro International Award 2018, and the “Grand Award” for Design in Asia Awards 2017. The shoe optimises comfort by not only providing a firm and responsive sole but a personalised fit as the sole encapsulates and cocoons your foot.

Named after the Japanese art of Furoshiki [wrapping something up, carefully and considered], this versatile model launched in 2015 and has since won awards such as the ADI Compasso d’Oro International Award 2018, and the “Grand Award” for Design in Asia Awards 2017. The shoe optimises comfort by not only providing a firm and responsive sole but a personalised fit as the sole encapsulates and cocoons your foot.

Born from the need for a versatile model which could fit anyone’s foot, Vibram found that soles that fit Western people would not fit Eastern people or vice versa. This is where this ingenious design would be born, thinking about how Furoshiki would be used to transport goods, ranging from dresses to bento boxes. Each time the cloth would perfectly fit the goods. This is how the model would eventually become a reality, by creating prototypes using Furoshiki as a basis and combining modern technology with a historical tradition.

Sitting in a space between futuristic and amphibious, the Italian paragons of function once again provide a pinnacle of leisure and performance with the Vibram Furoshiki wrapping shoe. Effortlessly unique and innovative, it bridges the gap between the firm grip you are likely to find on a mountain boot with the flexibility and manoeuvrability of what you’d experience with this kind of minimalistic shoe.

Forever linking back to their core ethos of connecting us closer to the world we step foot on, the Vibram Furoshiki allow us to do just this and even more.