1. It’s illegal to go barefoot in stores and restaurants.
Reality: There are no laws in the U.S. that require customers to wear shoes in stores and restaurants. Some stores have their own policies banning bare feet, but they are just that: store policies.
2. We need to wear shoes for support.
Reality: The human foot has evolved over millions of years, and people lived barefoot during most of this time. The human foot is perfectly suited to support most people without any help. Meanwhile, shoes can cause foot problems like hammer toes, plantar fasciitis and fallen arches, while also potentially damaging your posture and causing long-term health problems in the ankles, knees, hips and back.
3. Going barefoot increases the risk of infection.
Reality: A cut foot can get infected whether you’re barefoot or in shoes. In fact, shoes probably increase the likelihood of infection because the warm, moist interior of a shoe is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria. The only way to reduce the risk of infection is to medicate and bandage the cut.
4. People who go barefoot are more likely to get athlete’s foot.
Reality: Athlete’s foot, like other forms of bacteria, thrives in warm, moist environments. Most environments bare feet encounter don’t meet this criteria, but the inside of a shoe does. The best way to acquire athlete’s foot is to borrow someone else’s shoes or socks.
5. You can get hookworm from going barefoot.
Reality: This is true, but only in places where there are open sewers. In the U.S. and other developed countries, this risk is virtually nonexistent.
6. Every store has a policy banning bare feet.
Reality: Most stores do not. Usually when an employee confronts a barefoot customer about his or her bare feet, it turns out the employee is ignorant about store policy. Even stores that display “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” signs rarely enforce them. Most businesspeople are too smart to turn away paying customers; ones that do usually don’t stay in business long.
7. Bare feet may have been fine in the past, but today the ground is covered with hazardous debris.
Reality: Not really. At least not in any place I’ve ever lived. One thing you quickly find out when you start going barefoot is that the ground is actually much cleaner than you ever would’ve imagined.
8. You shouldn’t go barefoot because feet are ugly.
Reality: “Ugly” feet are typically ones that are deformed as a result of spending most of their days crammed into ill-fitting shoes.
9. You shouldn’t go barefoot because feet smell bad.
Reality: Foot odor is caused by wearing shoes. When feet sweat and become damp, foot-odor-causing bacteria thrives.
10. Shoe companies wouldn’t make shoes if there wasn’t a reason to.
Reality: There are certain situations when it is preferable to wear shoes, when the ground is too hot or cold, or unsanitary, for instance. But this doesn’t mean you should wear shoes at all times, just as you don’t wear gloves all the time just because you may need them in the winter or when you’re trimming your hedges. Like many articles of clothing, shoes were primarily designed as a status symbol. The aristocracy wore shoes to separate themselves from the barefoot peasants. This created demand for shoes from the poor so that they wouldn’t be labeled as such.
11. Going barefoot spreads germs.
Reality: Germs are primarily spread via your hands. Your hands are the most likely part of your body to touch another person and the most likely to touch your mouth and nose, enabling germs to enter the body. Furthermore, the inside of your shoe almost certainly contains more germs than anything you would step on with your bare feet.
12. You can catch cold from going barefoot.
Reality: It isn’t possible to “catch” cold whether you go outside barefoot, with wet hair or any of the other silly myths. If you get sick after going barefoot, it’s likely a coincidence, and you probably acquired the germs elsewhere, most likely via your hands (see above).
13. You can get a staph infection from going barefoot.
Reality: To acquire a staph infection, you have to come into contact with someone who is already infected. This happens quite frequently in hospitals, and it may be best to avoid walking around barefoot in a hospital. Outside of a hospital, the risk of getting a staph infection from going barefoot is virtually nonexistent.
14. Businesses ban bare feet because they are at risk for liability if something happens to a barefoot customer.
Reality: No they aren’t. Lawsuits related to injuries suffered while barefoot are virtually nonexistent in U.S. history. Insurance companies do not lower their rates if businesses ban bare feet. However, there have been many lawsuits filed for injuries suffered while wearing shoes, especially high heels and flip flops. Most footwear-related injuries are suffered by women wearing high heels, yet I’ve never heard of a business that banned customers from wearing them. Likewise, the most common customer injuries are back injuries resulting from lifting something heavy, yet businesses do not require customers to wear back braces.
Let's Go Barefoot! 