LUNA Sandals
The Guy Who Runs Ultras in Sandals — What's He Thinking?
Barefoot Ted became famous from Born to Run, but he spent twenty years proving human feet don't need modern running shoe protection, and founded LUNA Sandals.
From Copper Canyon to California
In 2006, Ted traveled to Mexico's Copper Canyon and met the Tarahumara — people running hundreds of kilometers in tire sandals. Back in California, he started making huaraches: Vibram rubber + leather cord, cut and glued in his garage. Named after Manuel Luna, the first Tarahumara runner Ted met.
Today's LUNA: Not Retro, Evolution
Today's LUNA is nothing like the garage version. Oso Winged uses Vibram Megagrip outsole (same rubber as Salomon trail shoes), strap system iterated through countless ultras. Core idea unchanged: minimize what's between feet and ground. LUNA is the global trail sandal benchmark. Barefoot Ted still runs ultras in LUNA — not a spokesperson, a user.
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