We don’t have any first-hand experience, but they seem to have a wide toe box – at least at the models marketed as Barefoot.

Hi Stu, thank you for letting us know about the barefoot options from Young Soles! If you’re interested in sending us samples to test, you can email us at info@anyasreviews.com

At Young Soles we’ve recently introduced a growing range of barefoot styles designed to support natural foot development while keeping the classic aesthetic we’re known for. Our barefoot collection features a wide toe box to allow toes to splay naturally, flexible zero-drop soles for better ground feel and balance, and lightweight construction so kids can move the way their feet were designed to.

Alongside the barefoot benefits, our shoes are designed to be stylish and high quality, with a timeless look that works for both everyday play and smarter occasions. All of our shoes are made in Europe using premium materials, combining traditional craftsmanship with modern barefoot design.

For US customers, we now have distribution in the United States and several of our barefoot styles are also available through Nordstrom.

We’d love for readers who are exploring barefoot options for their kids to take a look and hear their feedback.

– The Young Soles team

Vivobarefoot, Be Lenka, and Reima all have US distribution so those will ship from within the US. And Wildling is covering the duties on all US orders. So that means most on this list won’t have any extra costs for US customers! I haven’t updated it to reflect this information because it has been changing rapidly and we just have too many articles to update them until we know tariffs are here to stay. So we’ve been waiting for the supreme court ruling on the legality of tariffs to be announced.

What size does he wear? There is Xero’s Basketball line (he might fit in the women’s sizing?) and there is Naturathletics cleats for kids. I am not a PT or biomechanist, but with my own kids I do balance and stability exercises similar to these, as well as lots of barefoot time. One of our favorites is for each of us to balance on a beam of some kind and then toss a hacky sack back and forth. It seems like it’s often best to get the strength and stability where you need it and then let the improved gait happen naturally.

I noticed when he runs, he heal stomps and slaps his toes on the ground. Do you know of any drills or exercises for kids I can have him do to teach him a proper running gate? also, he is playing basketball now and our only options for basketball shoes were regular brands. Do you know of any other brands that have minimalist sports specific shoes like soccer cleats and basketball shoes for kids?

If Saguaro’s fit, the ones that come with the elastic laces can be removed with real laces put in!

Zara has recently come out with kids barefoot shoes. We are just testing them now (and we always test before recommending, so that’s why they aren’t yet added to this article). You can sometimes find shoes like this for little kids at Target and Walmart, but unfortunately there are not other mainstream brands currently making anatomically shaped kids shoes.

Hey, you can cut adult flat insoles to fit a kids shoe. Many big box stores even sell cushioned flat insoles that would be easily accessible.

Samantha,

I know this is much later… but, how do I choose an inserts for a kid? It seems that all of the inserts in the article are for adults…