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5th July 2024
The Project 080 sneaker is designed to look like a regular sneaker but with all the benefits of a barefoot shoe. Thick looking sole and dynamic design. Having a foot shaped shoe might be the most important quality of a barefoot sneaker because it keeps your toes in a natural position. OHNE PROJECT has a new designed sole that looks like a usual sole but gives all the benefits of a barefoot shoe. With less than 5 mm thickness it is ultra flexible and allows for a natural foot movement and sensory feedback to your brain. The idea to create barefoot shoes came about when the co-founders simply couldn’t find any beautiful sneakers that matched their style. Manel studied footwear design and Hanna studied textile engineering.
Each foot is made up of 26 bones, 33 joints and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. All of which work together to provide support, balance and mobility. Regular footwear can limit all our foots potential and be the reason for common feet, back and joint problems. They can deform our feet resulting in conditions such as bunions, hammer toes, and fasciitis plantar. Barefoot shoes are also “zero drop” which means that the height from heel to toe is the same, this helps our body to stay in balance and have a correct posture.
“My partner and I looked into why adults don’t wear wide footwear, yet it is commonly seen in the design of shoes for kids. Shoes should be designed to fit our feet and not to squeeze feet into shoe shapes. We saw there was a problem that barefoot shoes have a different look to the usual footwear designs on the market. We decided to do something about this and design a shoe that has all the properties of a barefoot shoe but doesn’t look like one.”
This is a shortened transcribed edit of episode 218 of the MenswearStyle Podcast with Manel Garcia Prats, Co-Founder of barefoot sneaker brand ohneproject.com. You can listen to the full version on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast player.
