To understand the origins of LUNA Sandals, it’s necessary to learn the origins of its founder Barefoot Ted.
Growing up in Southern California in the 1970s, Barefoot Ted (née Ted McDonald) embraced everything about the surf and skate ethos. “These early cultures understood and valued the barefoot lifestyle. Going barefoot was often the safest,” he explained, “Barefoot became the vehicle of exploration and adventure.”
It’s no surprise then, Barefoot Ted gravitated to this same vehicle when he was unable to find running footwear that would allow him to train the way he knew he could. Heck, he even gave Kangoo Jumps a whirl (seriously, Google them). “Within 30 minutes, I was done,” he laughed of the spring loaded shoes. “I had to rethink everything.”
“I’m a nut,” he laughed. “But if I get on a problem, I can usually find a working solution. I use it to the best of my advantage, and it usually drives people crazy; just ask my wife!”
Barefoot Ted discovered he could run far, run long, and, most importantly, run free of pain by running barefoot. He created a blog in 2004 with a mission to share this revelation, and little did he know, it ignited a spark of what would later become a movement.
“And that’s what the sandals started to be.”
Through his online research, Barefoot Ted quickly learned he wasn’t the only one who was running in this fashion. In 2006 he found himself in Mexico’s rugged Copper Canyons, where the Tarahumaran natives had deep traditions of running long distances wearing huaraches, a simple sandal made of rubber and leather string.
It was at the Copper Canyon 50-mile ultra-marathon where Barefoot Ted met the future brand’s namesake, Manuel Luna. A friendship grew and so did the inspiration for LUNA Sandals. Manuel made Barefoot Ted his first pair of huaraches, and the rest really is history.
“Sandals can connect people to how to locomote around the world, comfortably, safely, for a long time, and without unnecessary materials. I saw an entire culture that does that.”
“It was a very fascinating moment when I started realizing all the connections,” he said. “Footwear was one of our earliest and very extreme human inventions— being able to relatively easily create some kind of portable ground that allowed a human to tap into the skill sets that we have. I started riffing on the idea of paying homage to the foot, having some kind of portable ground, adding comfort, and extending the range without changing the form.”
Barefoot Ted came back from the Copper Canyons that year and eventually started selling early iterations of LUNA Sandals and sandal making kits. The simplicity of the Tarahumara culture and philosophy is the foundation of LUNA Sandals today.
“What’s the least you need to do the most?” he asked himself. Honoring the natural movement of the human foot, while providing enough protection to navigate any terrain, Barefoot Ted describes LUNAs as “portable ground” allowing for free movement while remaining connected to the Earth beneath.
“Learning to be so aware of what you’re doing when you’re doing it is so incredibly powerful; being in it ultimately has the goal of making you a more efficient mover. No expert can do that for them, they have to feel it for themselves. And if they don’t have the opportunity to feel it, they’ll never discover it.”
No matter the adventure, LUNA Sandals are the vehicle to get you there. “It’s something that’s not making us adjust or compensate for what we don’t already naturally have, but rather something that we’re already familiar with: our own feet.”
The trajectory of barefoot running and thus LUNA Sandals both took a powerful twist after the 2009 release of Christopher McDouglall’s best-seller Born to Run. In the book, Barefoot Ted is a real life character who shares about his barefoot running journey and kinship with Manuel Luna.
After Born to Run hit the shelves, LUNA Sandals gained more traction and, in his words, “got more eyeballs on the natural footwear space.”
Slacklining, haurache-wearing brothers Scott and Bookis Smuin already knew of Barefoot Ted’s legacy. A serendipitous encounter in a Seattle park connected the trio, a business plan was formed, and LUNA Sandals took off.
After slinging sandals out of their Seattle headquarters for ten years, LUNA Sandals is now located in the Eastern Cascades in Wenatchee, WA. “We try to be as intuitive as possible without being overly complicated,” he said of their philosophy. “What you gain is a lightness and freeing feeling, which ultimately becomes a super power,” he laughed.
“I truly believe you can provide the tool and people can make their own music with it. We are the instrument. It really gets sappy, but I’m always energized by helping tune people in to get tuned into themselves, allowing them to start riffing with what it means for them to be human. Why not have some footwear to tune in differently?”
“We aim to be a very good representation of a company and a people who have been in it and riffing on it for a long time. And we love doing that; truly there is no better thing.”
Originally from Alaska, Maria currently resides in Montana with her husband, two young daughters and chocolate lab named Echo. When she’s not chasing her kids or that next running goal, you can find her weekend-warrioring in the mountains or thinking about her next cup of coffee.
