Merrell Barefoot Trail Glove Review
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I was recently sent a pair of Trail Gloves by Merrell to review. As most of you who know me and read my blog are aware, I rarely wear shoes. I am a barefoot runner and general barefoot advocate. This means I prefer to run with no shoes on at all. However there are many circumstances and environments where it is simply more comfortable to have something on your feet, and that is where a minimalist shoe comes in handy. Merrell as a company have really adopted the barefoot movement wholeheartedly and do a great job on their website in educating how barefoot (or at least barefoot style) is clearly the best choice for runners. The Trail Glove is their first attempt at getting as back-to-basics as possible, while giving people the benefits that a shoe offers.
My overall opinion of this shoe is positive: There is a heck of a lot more right about this shoe than there is wrong with it. I would probably give this minimalist shoe a 4 out of 5 rating.
First Impressions:
When I was first contacted to review the Merrell Trail Glove I was honored to have been asked. Over the last few years I have found out more and more about barefoot running and minimalist shoes, but hadn’t actually come across the Trail Glove. I looked them up online just simply to see how they looked (I stayed away from other reviews as I wanted to make my own thoughts about it) and they looked very “shoe-like” from the start. This is neither a good thing nor a bad thing, but considering I spend the most of my life in Vibram FiveFingers I instantly noticed it.
When trying them on, again, I noticed that they were considerably more shoe than I was used to. I tried on the 9 and the 10 (the shop I went to didn’t have half sizes) and decided on the 9.5 to order and get sent.
Out of the Box:
They arrived a lot quicker than I expected them to (less than a week). My instant thoughts on getting them out of the box was that they were a fantastic, quality made shoe, although more of a shoe than most minimalist shoes, they felt quite light too.
I wanted to gradually wear them in so I just wore them around the house for half a day before wearing them at work for half a day.
One of the key things for me with any minimalist footwear is that they have a very thin sole. The Trail Glove has a 12mm Vibram sole which is a little excessive for me. I am used to running the majority of the time in completely bare feet and worst case scenario I will put on the KSO Trek’s which have a considerable (compared to the standard KSO) 4mm sole. The 12mm of the Trail Glove is too much in my opinion. However, considering it is a trail shoe, it’s more understandable. But still probably too much.
A major plus point for the Trail Glove is that it has a 0% heel-to-toe drop which is essential for all minimal shoes.
My next guideline for all minimal shoes is that they have a wide toe-box. Top marks here again for the Merrell. When you compare minimal shoes to normal running shoes that go more towards a point at the toes, minimal shoes almost seem to have a square end to them. This is quite subtle and most people would never notice, but the Trail Glove is up there with Vivo Barefoot’s and even Vibram’s. However I am quite challenged by the Trail Glove in relation to the width of the mid-foot. I have always had quite wide feet – I was always called Fred Flinstone Feet as a kid – and since I have been running barefoot it seems like my feet have widened even further. I felt extremely pinched by the narrowness of this shoe at that point.
General Wear and Hiking:
I also got some good compliments on how good they looked (as opposed to the stares and disbelief in FiveFingers) AND some shock and awe from colleagues who have never seen me wearing “shoes”. I did explain the benefits of them and how they are actually in the “minimalist” category, but I guess this is a positive mark for the Trail Glove since many people want the benefits of barefoot without looking weird!
So, since I spend the 90% of the day standing up at work this gave them quite a bit of wearing in time. I then went for a long 60-70 minute walk around the woods. This gave me mixed thoughts about them:
Pro’s:
- Plenty of protection in the sole from ground debris. This time of year one of the key issues with barefoot or in VFF’s in the woods near me are the cases of horse chestnuts that have fallen on the ground, I did not feel any of this except one that crept in through the side wall of the shoe (this is not a negative point, simply what comes hand in hand with outdoor exercise I am afraid – no shoe could protect you from this.)
- With the above in mind, you can still feel the ground beneath the sole, even if not as much as other minimalist brands. To me this is a Pro because the foot is designed to feel the ground and then adapt it’s posture and control accordingly.
- Lightweight – legs did not get tired as they would have with a “shoe”.
- Grip is impeccable. Where I went walking through Norsey Woods it has some patches that are very muddy and wet. When at walking paces there was absolutely no slippage and blows all of the FiveFingers out of the water in this regard where even the Trek sole slips a little.
Con’s:
- The thickness of the sole most definitely changes the natural style of my gait cycle. Since going barefoot I have become quite familiar with different landing techniques with my feet and can walk with a heel-strike at slow speeds but move more to a mid-foot strike when I want to walk faster (just before a trot). In the Merrell’s I found this mid-foot walk extremely difficult because I lacked the control and feel that I get from barefoot, or others. In a similar vein I also found it more difficult driving and control the pedals in the car in the Merrell’s compared to my normal barefoot driving.
- Not waterproof (not than any of the FiveFingers are either, but still worth a mention.) In the Merrell’s, instead of getting water in around the toes it came in at the sides on the medial portion of the foot under the arch.
Overall this was a positive walk and the grip really allowed me to be confident walking along logs and to become a little more carefree on some of the stonier paths. However, my feet did ache when I got back – and NOT the normal barefoot ache that minimalist or barefoot running gives the foot in the arch.
This was an ache that really encouraged me to get my shoes off as quick as I possibly could. Something I haven’t experienced in a long time.
Next we are on to running….
Before I went out for my run I wanted to try a couple of different things that were important to me. One of the key problems I have with my normal go-to minimalist shoe of the FiveFinger is that my feet sweat a lot and the shoes then rub consistently after about 4-6 miles. Not comfortable! I could easily wear socks and solve this problem for the majority of my middle distance runs, but I want to be as minimal as possible. Who wants to add another layer in between your foot and the proprioception essential for natural movement?!
So, what to do with the Merrell in this regard? They don’t really look like the sort of inner to a shoe that I would wear without socks, but if I could wear them without socks then that would be a hugely redeeming factor for me. Let’s see….
Running:
So the day I decided to go out for a run in the Merrell’s it had been raining a fair bit that morning and I thought it would be a great chance to go and try them out – especially since they are a “Trail” glove. I opted to wear them without socks, as this would be my preference long term and I just took some socks with me in case I got any rubbing. I am pleased to report that I ran nearly 4 miles and I had no rubbing whatsoever and my socks stayed in my pocket the whole time. I also found them to be more comfortable without socks – I guess because the width issue was now less of a problem. I wonder how a shoe like this would fare with prolonged wearing with no socks; would they start to smell (they did feel a little sweaty), and would they be easily washed like the FiveFinger? This would become a very important consideration for me as my run went on…
I started off on concrete on my way to the woods. Straight away the Trail Glove felt quite heavy compared to what I was used to, and because of this my footfall was a lot heavier and louder than I would have liked it to be. One of my colleagues remarked to me before I left that this might be a good minimal shoe for someone who is making the transition to barefoot running, however I think that probably the opposite would be true. I am a big proponent of getting form right first being totally barefoot as there is less room for error, and then you can almost wear anything. I have pretty good barefoot form and even I found it difficult at times to maintain a soft landing, it was near on impossible to keep it silent (one of my key distinctions of good barefoot form) and I also noticed it was difficult to keep up a quick cadence. From the off I didn’t really have the “spring in my step” that proper barefoot allows you.
I mentioned above that at slower speeds the grip on the Merrell was excellent. Whilst running this was a lot less impressive than I first thought. On wet concrete there was a lot of slippage, and even when I made it into the woods there was issues here too and a couple of times I slipped on both rocks and mud. This left me a little cautious for the remainder of the run. I generally didn’t have the control of barefoot, no doubt due to the sole thickness. I also found that in the middle of the run and moreso towards the end that I had some discomfort in my ankle, arch and achilles where the high back to the shoe was digging in (much like the old VFF Classic did with the hard and high rubber back.) I never get any arch/ankle problems usually so I can only put this down to the footwear and logically this would seem like it is caused by being an extra 12mm off the floor, straight up. The Sky-Scraper issue that creates less lateral stability.
On numerous occassions I really tried to test the shoe as best I could, with differing ground feels. I could feel some of the rocks, acorns and twigs beneath my feet, but nothing to make me need to adjust my stride – which I feel is the point of barefoot running really. Thinking out-loud now as I write this, I probably could have run with a heel-strike and would have had any soreness from this! (This is not a good thing, btw!)
I tested the limits of the shoe by getting very muddy in some deep puddles. The shoe has zero water-proofing and I was instantly soaked from the first puddle. This is not usually a major issue as most outdoor enthusiasts will be used to this kind of thing, however towards the end I did become uncomfortable in my feet, and although I mentioned not having any rubbing in the 40 or so minutes I was out for, had I continued for more time my wet feet would invariably have caused me some issues. The soaking shoe’s seemed to keep the water in them and because I had opted for no socks I was slipping a little on the sole of the shoe. Obviously in the future I would recommend to people not to purposely hit some deep puddles, but when preparing for all eventualities, this is a definite negative quality of the shoe.
I got home and I must admit my feet felt better after the run that after just walking around in them for a day. Are they stretching out, was I right to go sock-free, or are they simply a much better option as a running shoe as opposed to a casual shoe?
To Conclude…:
This review is mostly based on how well these shoes suit ME. I have been strongly taking into consideration the other options out there for minimalist footwear – the ones I have tried at least. I will probably not wear these shoes for running because I personally have found much more preferable options.
I will likely wear these if I was to do some hiking in places I’m not familiar with the terrain, or if it is really wet outside, or even snowing now we’re coming into winter. I might even wear these shoes if I was to ever play football and have a kickabout over the park as the FiveFinger doesn’t really lend itself to this kind of play too well.
There are still a few questions left unanswered for me since I’ve only been playing around with them for such a short time. Will they stretch out more? Will they need more washing / can they be washed?
As I said at the beginning, there is a heck of a lot more that is right about this shoe than is wrong with it, but I think there is still more work to be done on it’s design. If they were to ask me, I would suggest that they minimise the thickness of the sole while still keeping it’s ruggedness for the outdoor market that Merrell is advertising to, and changing the width of the mid-foot and take into consideration the biomechanics of different sized feet.
I would buy this shoe if my feet were naturally narrower and I spent a lot of time outdoors, or I wanted to have something that gave minimalist benefits and shoe-benefits at the same time.
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