For a shoe to be considered minimalist, it must interfere as little as possible with the natural movement of the foot. There are 5 criteria which, taken together, produce the index that determines whether the shoe promotes a natural gait or not.
In this article, you will find out which factors allow you to determine whether your shoe is minimalist.
WEIGHT
One of the fundamental criteria of the minimalist index is weight: a lighter shoe will more easily be judged as one that facilitates a natural stride. A shoe weighing less than 125 g will score highly on this scale. Conversely, a shoe weighing more than 325 g will be considered heavy and will consequently score low on the minimalism scale.
FLEXIBILITY
There are two types of flexibility used to define this index.
Longitudinal flexibility (fore/aft axis) and torsional flexibility (on pronation).
The easier it is to twist the shoe along these two axes, the higher the score will be. Conversely, the more resistance there is to twisting in both directions, the lower the score will be, and therefore the shoe will be considered maximalist.
THE DROP
The drop is an indicator in mm that measures the difference in sole thickness between the front of the shoe and the heel. It can also be referred to as "slope".
A shoe with a drop of 0 will be 100% minimalist in this respect, while conversely a shoe with a high drop — that is, greater than 10 mm — will be considered maximalist.
THICKNESS
Measured at the heel, it assesses the distance between where the foot rests (centre of the heel) and the shoe's contact point with the ground beneath the heel.
The thinner the shoe, the higher its score. A thickness of less than 8 mm will give a high minimalist index, while conversely a thickness of more than 32 mm will give a low minimalist index, tending towards a maximalist shoe.
STABILITY TECHNOLOGIES
The fewer integrated and built-in technologies a shoe has, the higher its score on the Minimalist Index. These technologies vary and include, for example, plastic medical reinforcements or a raised insole.
