Just got back from a trip to the grocer, and in the open air mall beside it is a running shoe store. I tried on a pair of the new New Balance Minimus trail runners. Must say I am impressed.
First things first, this is BPL after all is that they were extremely lightweight, but surprise, surprise, the manufacturer fibbed about the weight. The size 10.5 I tried on weighed 4.1 ounces per shoe according to the shop's postage scale. New Balance says they are 7 ounces for the pair.
The sole is made by Vibram. It is very flexible. Extremely flexible. The sole is lugged deeply, but it doesn't feel like you are on a platform at all like some shoes. A compared to the extreme flexibility of the shoe in general, the toe box portion of the sole is super-ultra flexible I'm guessing to allow one to really push off from the toes.
The upper is made of synthetic mesh or webbing of varying widths. It seems as though these would be fast drying if submerged, and give plenty of air flow to the feet in general. I am concerned about durability however. Especially in the toebox. Everywhere else, the rubber the sole does a good job of forming a "cup" leading up to the mesh on the shoe, except for the toebox. If I was taking these on a thru, or even just planned on hiking in them often, I would reinforce the area with shoe good and duct tape from the get-go as it is an obvious point of failure.
The stack, or total distance from foot to ground including outsole, midsole, and insert is 15.3mm at the heel and 11.3mm at the toe. Barefoot of course would be 0 stack. The drop, or difference in height from heel to forefoot is 4mm. Barefoot of course would be 0.
To compare: A traditional shoe has 37mm heel stack, 24.5mm in the toebox, for a drop of 12.5mm. In traditional shoes this leads to an unnatural footstrike compared to walking barefoot as our bio-mechanics evolved to accommodate.
I am no a proponent (or opponent) of barefoot or pseudo-barefoot running, walking, trail gaiting, etc., but I've heard time and again weight on one's feet is multiplied versus weight on one's back, and these may be the lightest trail runners out there that offer some drop like a traditional shoe, but not quite all the stress on often underdeveloped foot muscles like Vibram Five Fingers might. The brochure I picked up (from which I quoted the above figures) does mention to transition slowly to using the Minimus.
I don't own a pair of these, just wanted to give my impression to the community of a new product I wore for a few minutes in the store, and ask if anyone does have experience with them.
Also, I would hope that you would look into New Balance's human rights record and labor conditions as an aspect of your decision to purchase or not. Some extremely troubling things there.
This is from a report in 2006:
A joint report by the National Labor Committee and China Labor Watch entitled “New Balance Goes to China,” details working conditions at Di Chang, a Li Kai owned factory in Hongyuan, China. Li Kai is a major supplier of New Balance footwear. On average, one Li Kai factory supplies 12 million pairs of shoes each year. Labor rights violations included the following:
* Illegal discrimination based on gender, age, height, province, and origin
* Wages below subsistence level. Workers earn $0.40 an hour, $3.22 a day. After mandatory deductions for dorm and food expenses, daily earnings drop to $2.55 at most
* Routine 10 hour shifts, six days a week
* Mandatory overtime shifts, without full overtime pay
* Denial of paid holidays, marriage and bereavement leaves, to which Chinese workers are legally entitled
* Lack of benefit rights for workers such as health insurance, work injury insurance and pension programs
* Physical and verbal abuse
The National Labor Committee and China Labor Watch argue that New Balance should use its relationship with Li Kai to improve conditions at factories where standards have been abandoned."
And this is from an earlier report, but the problem is likely ongoing, as New Balance just switched factories, owned by the same group with the substandard conditions, and this time did not allow the new factory to be independtly audited:
"In 2001 investigators from the National Labor Committee visited Taiwan-owned Lizhan Footwear Factory in southern China's Guangdong province. The company had enrolled in Social Accountability International (SAI), which prescribes specific performance standards in nine key areas that include health and safety, discrimination, working hours and compensation through its SA8000 certification. The goal of SA8000 is to raise public awareness about inhumane work conditions in developing nations. Investigators found dormitory rooms packed with up to 28 people and work shifts that normally ran to 12 hours. When workers went on strike over long hours and low wages, according to the NLC investigators, they were all fired. Workers had also been coached to lie to SA8000 inspectors.
Social Accountability International removed Lizhan, a major contractor for New Balance, from its list of approved factories. But rather than pressure Lizhan to clean up its act, New Balance shifted its production in Guangdong to a new uncertified factory right next door called Likai Footwear, according to company officials. It is owned by the same Taiwan investor that owns Lizhan"
