Interviewing the Brand Going Barefoot
Catching up with the co-founder of Dolfie Paradise ahead of the release of their new all-barefoot lineup
Some traditional shoe companies dabble in barefoot shoes: there’s Nike Free Run and Merrell’s Glove series. A few barefoot shoe companies, including Groundies and Altra, have even done the reverse, offering narrower fits over time. No company has ever done a full send from traditional shoes to barefoot— until Dolfie Paradise.
The 17-year-old Spanish shoe company announced that it’s completely changing its offerings from traditional to exclusively barefoot shoes. Dolfie’s co-founder and creative director, Bárbara de Assis, kindly made time to talk to me about it. She shared her feelings surrounding the release and what it takes to make barefoot shoes cool.
The Inspiration
All barefoot shoe enthusiasts have that thing that put them onto barefoot shoes. For the Dolfie co-founder, it was the people in her life. Bárbara’s friends, once avid Dolfie supporters, started wearing Vivobarefoot and never looked back. The power of friendship was no match for the feeling of toe splay. They put barefoot shoes on her radar, but the shoes’ aesthetics kept her away.
Bárbara wouldn’t give barefoot shoes a chance until her son also stopped wearing Dolfie, as traditional shoes were starting to bother him. She got him some barefoot Merrells and the problem was solved. His love for barefoot shoes showed when we met. Kitted out in the Mc5 model from Dolfie’s new line, he zipped around to get a better look at Central Park’s exotic— to their Spanish island, that is— squirrels. Her son’s response to the Merrells started Bárbara down the barefoot shoe rabbit hole.
The impetus for Dolfie’s switch to barefoot was their near bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stores were trying to stay alive, so they stopped putting in purchase orders for Dolfie shoes. Challenges like material shortages, imported component delays, and production setbacks made it hard to continue production for Dolfie. The combination of Bárbara’s new belief in barefoot shoes and the difficulty of the old way of doing things made it “the right time for change,” and she feels that the change is a relief:
The [barefoot shoe] concept has given a true meaning to everything we’ve done. It’s not just about fashion or chasing the latest trend anymore; it’s about something that genuinely benefits foot and overall body health. This shift is incredibly motivating and fulfilling. After so many years, it feels like we’ve finally found a real purpose and meaning in what we do, which is a profoundly different and inspiring sensation.
The Concerns
Making a barefoot shoe line isn’t all relief and inspiration, though. Bárbara has a number of concerns about how barefoot shoe enthusiasts will receive Dolfie’s new line. She understands that most barefoot shoe wearers made the switch for health-related reasons, making them a highly detail-oriented customer base. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m one of the picky ones. I have opinions down to the millimeter on features like stack height and I’ve given a brand feedback on insole foam density. That makes it feel like people’s health is in Dolfie’s hands, but making a shoe for every foot is challenging.
Another group she worries about is vegans, who have a strong presence in the barefoot shoe community. Bárbara is a vegetarian herself, and she believes real leather is a superior material to plastic faux leather for its durability, biodegradability, and the fact that it’s a byproduct. To Dolfie, vegan shoes mean hemp and organic cotton textiles, not plastic. When Dolfie must use synthetics in their shoes such as in tongue tags, they’re made from recycled plastic.
As I lamented in my post about OHNE Project’s 176 USD shoes, Bárbara agrees that barefoot shoes are expensive. She doesn’t want cost to keep consumers from a healthy pair of shoes. Yet, she wants to honor Dolfie’s dedication to quality. Add providing a product that’s worth the money but not too much money to her list of concerns and challenges.
The Significance
Dolfie’s barefoot shoes look great for two reasons. The first is that they’re made by trained designers who treat shoemaking as an artistic medium. Both Bárbara and her co-founder and husband, Adolfo Lendoyro, studied fashion design at IADE Madrid. Following that, they received scholarships to attend the prestigious Central Saint Martins. They then completed shoe design master’s programs in Alicante, “a region of Spain known for its rich history in the footwear industry.” Bárbara says that she and Adolfo are “designers at heart.” She speaks with passion about shoe design as a specific art form:
[Shoes] involve a complex development process that includes designing soles, lasts, and patterns… In footwear, creativity manifests in how we innovate within these constraints. Designing a shoe is like solving a puzzle, balancing functionality with aesthetic appeal, experimenting with materials, and finding new ways to enhance comfort and style… With the barefoot concept, this challenge has become even more significant. We are tasked with creating a shoe that is not only aesthetically pleasing and functional but also incredibly comfortable and healthy. It’s a true test of our creativity and innovation.
The second reason Dolfie’s barefoot shoes look great is that their designs already existed as traditional shoes. Dolfie isn’t changing its design aesthetic with the release of the barefoot line, so the barefoot shoes need to uphold the look of their original counterparts. Most barefoot shoes are created primarily to provide a healthy footwear option, not to achieve the aesthetics of traditional shoes. As a result, they’re shoes only in the sense that they go on your feet instead of shoes as fashion and accessory.
Dolfie’s barefoot shoe line is a great opportunity to learn about what it takes to translate traditional shoe aesthetics onto foot-shaped shoes. Through it, we can think about what a future with more footwear options across the barefoot spectrum could look like. Look out for the next post, in which I’ll be taking a closer look at some of Dolfie’s barefoot offerings and sharing more of Bárbara’s insight about how they were able to make them stylish.
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Big thanks to Bárbara and Adolfo for giving me their time and sharing this insight. If you’re in the shoe business and also love to discuss the subject of barefoot shoes, anatomical footwear in general, and their aesthetics, let’s talk!