Luna Sandals Review

Luna sandals are ultra lightweight minimalist sandals for running, walking, and trekking. In my experience, I’ve found Luna sandals to be durable, comfortable, and perfect for a variety of terrain and activities. These minimalist, huaraches-style sandals help keep your feet healthy and toes straight by staying out of the way of your foot. They also help prevent some of the most common toe, foot, and leg problems, such as bunions, hammertoes, ingrown toenails, plantar fasciosis, shin splints, runner’s knee, and neuromas.

Beneficial Design Features

Luna sandals have several key design features that set them apart from other footwear. First, Luna sandals are completely flat from heel to toe, which provides a very stable support base upon which your foot can function. Natural arch support is enabled when both ends of your main foot arch, your medial longitudinal arch, are on a level plane, not tilted (or propped up in the middle), as is common in conventional footwear. The two ends of your medial longitudinal arch are your heel bone and your forefoot (including your toes). Luna sandals allow both ends of your arch to be in line with each other, providing you with optimal stability and the best possible support base.

Another beneficial design feature of Luna sandals is the width of the forefoot area. This width allows your toes to spread the way nature intended. A lot of other sandals have toe straps that squeeze your toes together, which can lead to toe deformities over time. Well-splayed toes are an important part of normal human anatomy, and long-term foot health involves preserving or restoring this toe splay by using non-toe-deforming footwear. Toe splay is especially important during weight-bearing activity, such as running, because it enables your main foot arch to support itself while preventing excessive pronation, or inward rolling of your ankle.

The third beneficial design feature of Luna sandals is sole flexibility. Luna sandals have an extremely flexible sole, and this helps improve your ground feel and helps wake up the muscles that act in and on your foot. Luna sandals’ flexible sole encourages a strengthening of your foot muscles and promotes a more natural running style. The soles of these sandals can be easily bent or twisted and provide plenty of protection for the bottoms of your feet.

Like all men's and women's footwear we offer at Natural Footgear, Luna sandals do not include any obtrusive design features that alter your foot function in any way, and they allow your foot to function like a barefoot, in the way that nature intended.

Other Key Features

Every Luna sandal has rock climbing-strength tubular nylon strapping that’s comfortable on the foot and between the toes and minimizes friction along contact points. These sandals also have an adjustable buckle for maximum personalized comfort and fit, as well a comfortable elasticized heel strap for easy slip-on and slip-off. The strapping system allows you to customize your Luna sandals to your unique foot and toe length and keeps your foot rooted in place to prevent it from sliding around on the sandal’s footbed. The flat, recessed plug on the bottom of the sandals prevents discomfort and improves the sandal and strapping longevity.

These sandals also have durable Vibram neoprene soles that work well on all kinds of terrain. The soles provide plenty of grip on slippery surfaces and make it easy to find footing on rocks, logs, and other trail features.

Finally, the open-air nature of these sandals exposes your skin and toenails to light and air, which in turn reduces the likelihood of microbial infection.

Product Combos

I find that Luna sandals can be used with other helpful natural footgear to achieve optimal foot health. These sandals work really well with Injinji toe socks and Pedag metatarsal pads. With a few modifications, you can also use your Correct Toes with your Luna sandals! This combination of products can help you experience immediate and long-term foot and toe health benefits, and it also feels great!

Uses

Luna sandals have a wide range of possible uses, everything from trail running to ultramarathons to multi-day treks in the mountains. Luna sandals are great for just kicking around town too. These sandals work great in the water and on a variety of terrain, from rocks to mud to pavement. In the cooler weather, you can wear your Luna sandals with a thick wool sock to keep your feet both warm and healthy. That being said, I will caution you to avoid using your Luna sandals without adequate foot protection in cold weather conditions.

Another thing to consider is that, because most of your foot is exposed, you do have a greater risk of experiencing cuts and scrapes from rocks or branches. It can also happen that you catch a root or rock with the leading edge of your sandal, and this can cause you to pitch forward. Personally, I’ve found that this is more likely to happen if I’m fatigued or at the end of a very long run. In my experience, I’ve found that the ability to feel the ground actually protects me from errant footfalls. I think that being conscious of your footfalls and your foot placement can help prevent both scrapes and tripping.

Summary

Luna sandals are my go-to warm weather running shoes because of their lightweight nature, their foot-healthy design features, and the ground-feel they offer. I like being able to feel the ground when I walk or run, and Luna sandals allow me to do this (without the same level of sensitivity that comes with barefooting). I also like the very primal feeling I get when I wear these sandals, and I like having my feet and toes exposed to nature. And finally, the comfortable and adjustable strapping system that doesn’t dig into my skin or cause friction burns (and that keeps my foot solidly in place on the footbed) is a major plus for me.

Like anything health-related, though, it’s important to transition to this new style of footwear in a slow and progressive manner. I encourage you to check out our blog post about how to safely transition to minimalist or barefoot-like footwear.