Around 2009 there began a phenomena within the running community in the direction of barefoot running. The craze was to get rid of the arch supporting and cushioned running shoes since they were regarded as the cause of much of the injuries that runners had been getting. The trend was supported and touted by a lot of so-called gurus, web sites, discussion boards as well as books. It was greatly offered as the response to many of the issues that athletes faced. It had been projected that up to around one fourth of all athletes dabbled in the concept of barefoot or minimalist running at the time. Regardless of most of the rhetoric and boasts created for barefoot running, the science and research did not support those claims that were being made. For most of these runners that ever done it, the advantages failed to eventuate, and so they went back to running in what they were used to be exercising in. Runners gradually lost interest in it and regardless of all the hype and the volume of promotion that was directed at it, the fad started falling off by end of 2014 and these days it seldom gets a mention with the exception of historic terms and by a tiny dedicated group that still undertake it and try to encourage for this.

The trend did stimulate lots of barefoot running shoes that is a dose of an oxymoron as how can you be barefoot and have athletic shoes. Nonetheless, these running shoes at that time were developed to be so minimal and still have little padding like the standard athletic shoes. They were really nothing more than protective covering of the feet. It had been assumed that when using these types of footwear that they are as close as you might get to running barefoot whilst still using some sort of athletic shoes. There were a lot of new brands into the running shoe market within the back of this trend as the standard running shoe corporations had been somewhat sluggish to respond to the change in the market. The original running footwear companies did respond with additional minimalist shoes at that time. Since then a number of the new companies have left the market and the choice of barefoot running shoes provided by the bigger running shoe businesses are already appreciably reduced as the interest in these shoes have dropped to the extent that they now make up significantly less than 1% of the athletic shoes industry.

Whilst there is no longer much attention, if any, in barefoot or minimalist running shoes, there is a legacy how the fad leaves within the market. Athletes are definitely more aware of the different design features in athletic shoes like the amount of cushioning and the elevation with the shock absorbing back heel. There are some of the minimalist design features that have been incorporated into the more traditional running shoes. The range of athletic shoes currently on the market is now more considerable which range from the minimalist end to the more padded maximalist end of the spectrum. There's no question that this novelty has left a legacy.