Barefoot running had been a big trend around ten years back which endured for a couple of years and attracted lots of interest, particularly in social media. Towards the end of 2008 and early 2009 there had been growing promises that running footwear were actually damaging to the athletes and was to blame for the majority of the overuse injuries that runners have been getting. It was inspite of the phenomenal volume of research and technology that went into improving athletic shoes to forestall these injuries. These beliefs ended in a movement for runners to test out running without using running footwear and running barefoot or running in what become known as minimalist running footwear. Most of these running footwear had minimum technology or attributes within them and are basically a protective covering of the feet.
The barefoot running trend was driven by a vast existence in social media. There have been a great deal of websites, publications, programs, journals and message boards committed to and driving without running shoes running. A lot of extraordinary claims were made for barefoot running as to what it might do for the runners. It was claimed that as much as one fourth of runners might have experimented in some way with without athletic shoes running. However, by later in 2013 and early 2014 involvement with barefoot running had disappeared away and runners weren't any longer curious about it. This was in spite of all the extraordinary claims which got made concerning the great things about barefoot running and the statements coming from many that it had been going to put the athletic shoes businesses bankrupt. That certainly did not happened.
The barefoot running fad declined since the assumed positive aspects never added up for the vast majority of athletes who tried it. There initially were a lot of assertions made how the science backed up barefoot running, when in reality there wasn't any research which showed that it turned out better and succeeding research has shown that the exercise related injury incidence in without running shoes or minimalist running isn't less than those who work out in the padded athletic shoes. There was clearly plenty of research carried out on barefoot as well as minimalist running, but that science did not reveal that it was any greater, it just indicated that that it was different. The truth that there was clearly a huge amount of science that was misinterpreted by individuals who touted barefoot running as demonstrating it was greater, when that isn't what it demonstrated.
At the end of the barefoot novelty, the Hoka One One running footwear organization released some maximally padded running footwear that were mocked and disliked by runners touting barefoot running. Despite that, runners liked this footwear and the Hoka’s are now a leading company in the running shoe marketplace and since 2014 the trend has been towards the more maximally cushioned running shoes from all the running footwear manufacturers.
You will find however a tiny group of die hard barefoot athletes which was always there. At the moment the minimalist running shoes have made up about 0.3-0.5% of the running footwear market for the previous few years. Those maximalist running footwear still control the market for the last 5-7 years and there is absolutely no clue in any loss of the market share or a return of an fascination with barefoot or minimalist running footwear.