Barefoot running has been a significant fad around ten years ago that endured for a couple of years which drew lots of curiosity, particularly in social media. In late 2008 to early 2009 there were increasing comments that running shoes have been actually harmful to the runners and was the cause of most of the overuse injuries that athletes are getting. This was despite the extraordinary volume of science and engineering that went into creating running shoes to stop those running injuries. These claims led to a craze for athletes to experiment with running not using running shoes and running barefoot or using what become known as minimalist running shoes. These types of running shoes had negligible engineering or attributes in them and were basically a protective covering up of the foot.

The without shoes running craze had been motivated by a large presence in social media. There were loads of websites, books, classes, journals and discussion boards invested in and advocating barefoot running. A lot of incredible statements were made for barefoot running as to what it will do for the athletes. It had been alleged that as much as a quarter of runners may have experimented in some manner with without running shoes running. However, by later in 2013 and early on in 2014 curiosity about barefoot running had disappeared away and athletes were no longer inquisitive about it. This was even with all of the incredible comments that got made concerning the features about it and the promises coming from a few that it had been about to put the running footwear providers out of business. That never ever occurred.

The fad dropped since the alleged positive aspects hardly ever accumulated for the vast majority of runners that tried it. There initially were a large amount of comments made that the research supported barefoot running, when in reality there was no science which demonstrated that it turned out better and following research has shown how the exercise related injury rate in without running shoes or minimalist running isn't less than those who work out in the cushioning athletic shoes. There was plenty of research carried out on barefoot and also minimalist running, but that research did not demonstrate that it turned out any superior, it simply demonstrated that it was different. The truth that there was clearly a great deal of research which was misinterpreted by those who touted barefoot running as demonstrating it had been superior, when that is not what it really proved.

At the end of the barefoot gimmick, the Hoka One One running footwear corporation produced some maximally shock absorbing athletic shoes which were laughed at and despised by runners advocating barefoot running. Despite that, athletes liked this footwear and the Hoka’s are now a dominant player in the running footwear market and since 2014 the movement is still towards the much more maximally padded running shoes from all of the running shoe companies.

There is certainly however a small number of die hard barefoot athletes which was always there. At this time the minimalist running shoes make up approximately 0.3-0.5% of the running footwear market for the previous few years. The maximalist running shoes continue to control the market for the past 5-6 years and there isn't any hint in any loss of the share of the market or even a return of an curiosity about barefoot or minimalist running footwear.