Oh yes. Today my THIRD pair of Vibram Five Fingers arrived. I got a pair of the new WOOL VFF's and I'm guessing I might be the only one in Austin with these babies. I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEM. I went to lengths to get them.
First, I wrote to VFF CEO Tony Post and asked him to sponsor me. I really did. Because I have worn my Vibrams all over the world and I can even say, "I have monkey feet" in Spanish and Hebrew. I honestly cannot tell you how many hours of my life I have dedicated to telling strangers about these shoes. If you need to make friends and influence people, forget Dale Carnegie and get some VFFs. I've touted them to anyone who stops and asks me, and people stop and ask me constantly. Last week at the International Quilt Fest in Houston I probably convinced ten people or more to buy some.
Anyway, Tony wrote me a nice letter back but so far, no sponsorship. I told him thanks anyway and that I would continue to be an unofficial spokesmonkey for the company. How can I not?
I blew through my first pair after wearing them pretty much 24/7 for months and months, including 3 mile daily walks with the dogs on dirt trails, concrete sidewalks, and asphalt roads. Before those wore out, I picked up a second pair so that I could always have one pair on my feet and one in the washer (yes, you can wash them). This amused Warren who acted as if I were some royal snob keeping two sets of silver on hand because the servants weren't keeping the first set polished fast enough to please me.
The second pair is winding down-- they maybe have a couple of hundred miles left in them. So I started looking at the VFF website the way some people surf for Internet porn. And then I spotted them: WOOL VIBRAMS! OMG OMG OMG. Wool and Vibrams, two of my favorite things together-- it's like that old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ad: You got your wool in my toe shoes! No, no! You got your toe shoes in my wool! Talk about two great tastes that go great together.
I noted that I could not order the woolies directly from VFF, that I had to get them in a store. Well Whole Earth didn't have 'em and neither did REI. But I could order them from the REI website and have them shipped to my local store. Which I did. And I waited. And waited. And today they got here. When I went to pick them up, I wound up in a twenty minute conversation with a woman considering buying another style VFF. I sealed the deal for Larry the shoe salesguy. A very nice REI employee begged to see them-- he's a zealot like me but hadn't seen the wool ones yet. That took another fifteen minutes-- every one of them most enjoyable. It's like we both had taken the same excellent acid at the precise same moment and we stood there tripping together over how much we love these shoes.
So, okay, they look goofy. But people, let me tell you-- if you have not gotten a pair yet, you should order some now. Just make sure you get the right size. I can't wait to order ten more pairs. And I'll let you know when Vibram realizes that sponsoring me is going to be the move that pushes their company into the Fortune 500.
Mwa mwa mwa-- I kiss you new shoes!! I love you!!
3 comments:
I keep thinking I want some. I really do. But what about my socks, Spike? What about my handknit socks? Do I need to start knitting toe socks?
yikes. good question. i wear my hand knitted socks around the house. but is that enough? i don't think knitted toe socks will work with VFFs. but there is one possible solution, and i've tested it. start knitting LEG WARMERS. when you wear big leg warmers AND VFFs you really, really meet people.
Leg warmers. Hmmmm. No heel to turn (not that that's a big deal). Will cutting the necks off my t-shirts be far behind? I'm always happy to meet people and make new friends though.
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