Walking down the street, sophomore Brenna Viles seems to be the tallest person around her. This is because as people pass her, their heads immediately drop to stare at her shoes, then raise to look at her face and then drop to stare at her shoes again. While typical shoes have a rounded toe, Viles’ shoes have a special slot for each toe, all wrapped in bright and neon colors.

This is the reaction Viles gets from most people for her Vibram FiveFingers. FiveFinger shoes are designed to be the “World’s best barefoot running shoe”, according to the Vibram website. . With a patented technology in the sole that the company refuses to disclose to the public, FiveFingers are designed to protect the foot, but also to include minimal support to simulate walking barefoot.

Viles bought the FiveFingers last May after reading a book called Born to Run by Christopher McDougal, Viles explained that the book gives a look to the origins of running, says that natural is better. After reading about the origins of running in the book, Viles now believes running naturally us better for her feet and prefers to wear her FiveFingers to any other shoe.

‘[I usually] run about one to two miles in them when I do run, and I just wear them out to the store most of the time,” Viles said. “I like them a lot better than tennis shoes, because in tennis shoes I feel like you’re dragging around blocks on your feet.’

FiveFingers is marketing the shoes as a memory from childhood when most kids went barefoot whenever they could, and that is the first way a person learned to discover the world.

Sophomore Abby Geiger also purchased a pair of Vibram FiveFingers this summer and is now an advocate for the new footwear.

‘I really, really like [FiveFingers],’ Geiger said. ‘They feel just like I’m barefoot when I run the trail around my neighborhood. I never wore shoes as a kid, so this is awesome. Plus, I work muscles I didn’t even know I had.’

According to Vibram, Five Fingers will improve range of motion in the feet, ankles, and toes. By not encompassing the foot in real shoes, nerves in the foot are stimulated and the signals sent to the brain improve balance and stability. Forcing the foot to fall naturally as a person walks or runs, the ball of the foot becomes the main point of contact with the ground, and improves and strengthens posture which is key to preventing back, knee, and shoulder pain.

‘It’s a lot like having your arm in a cast,’ Viles said. ‘When you take the cast off, your arms are kind of floppy and that’s what Vibrams are. You have to get used to using the muscles you don’t use with regular shoes.’

Voted the National Geographic’s ‘2010 Gear of the Year,’ running barefoot decreases the chance of acute injuries in the ankle and lower leg. Compared to runners with traditional shoes, barefoot running uses about 4% less oxygen, because the shoe is less strenuous.

‘The bottom line is, they rock my socks off,’ Geiger said. ‘Literally.’