VivoBarefoot Schwag

Something happened this week that reminded me of this book that I had as a kid.
Does anyone remember this oldie but goodie?

I had to do this for homework in second grade.
The idea is that you write to your favorite company/companies - like Hershey, for example, and you write a letter (Whaaa?! Yeah, writing! With a pencil and paper!!) to them about a good or a bad experience you had with their product. Stick a stamp on it, and eventually if you were juuuust lucky enough, you'd get a form letter response and maybe something for free.

I always chose anything edible, like chocolate, because I knew it was good for a coupon that'd get me a free candy bar. :) I honestly can't remember what else you could get for free (or in some cases for $1) from the book, but as a kid, it was pretty much the coolest. thing. ever. Well, at least I thought it was... which may explain why I like coupons so much.

Fast forward to last week...

I have these barefoot shoes (like Vibram Fivefingers, except without the toes) that I love so much. I have loved them so much that I wore a hole in the bottom. They're the Vivobarefoot Amelia. It's possibly THE most comfortable shoe I have ever owned. It's wide and roomy, it's minimalist & zero-drop, and most importantly, this is a STEALTH BAREFOOT SHOE! with some fine looks...

I love this company!!! I love these shoes!!! They make a barefoot running shoe, the Evo, which I have yet to try out. Most of their other shoes are sandals, technical athletic/hiking shoes, or are lifestyle shoes with a funky look. Unfortunately, funky works in SoHo, but doesn't really cut it for business casual footwear here in the Midwest.

I should've known when I was in the SoHo store in NYC last November and saw the Amelia shoes on clearance. I bought the Boxing Boot that day... another pair of Vivos that I love dearly. Comfortable boots. Rare and worth the price. Eight months later, I'm still kicking myself for not buying those Amelias (at a smokin' price too!). And now that I'm due for a new pair, they are discontinued. :(

Vivobarefoot's current line of lifestyle shoes is lacking, and after doing lots of research, there is really nothing remotely close in the market that fills the good looking/functional barefoot shoe category for women (but for men? Plenty. Some women might like the Merrells that are out there, but the running shoe look still makes it a far second and the fit isn't quite right for my foot.)

Last week, I emailed the team at Vivobarefoot through their online form to: a) find out if it's possible to hunt down a pair; b) tell them they need to corner the women's casual minimalist shoe market!; and c) let them know how much I love their shoes. I didn't want anything in return or even much of a response, but mostly hoped that I would be one of - hopefully - many who could influence their future designs with my feedback.

Excellent customer service, Vivobarefoot! Not only did I receive a quick response, but I received the full email chain proving they'd made a good attempt at locating a pair for me. To me, good customer service is responsiveness and a genuinely friendly attitude... even if it's not the answer I want to hear. Thank you!!

Here's the email itself:

Hey Steph-

So glad to hear you love the shoes, I am huge fan of the Amelia myself.  Unfortunately we will not be bringing back that particular style. However our design team is completely aware that we need more casual items since there is such a void in the market.

I urge you to keep an eye out for VIVOBAREFOOT as our upcoming AW12 Season has new items and colors that I am extremely excited about. Starting around March of 2013 we are bringing in 4 new SKU's in the Ladies Casual arena that offer a more feminine and dainty feel.

Is it possible to get your home address as I have a few little goodies I would like to send you as a thank you for taking the time out of your day to send me such a nice email. Nice emails are the best!!!

AW12 is Autumn/Winter 2012, so it's coming in a few short months and I cannot wait to see what they're releasing!

Well of COURSE I sent her my home address, expecting probably a bunch of keychains and other things that are cool (but in all honesty maybe not something I'll actually use - you know, the free junk you get at expos!).

Today I got my goodies in the mail.

Side note: First, I got a note attached to the envelope itself that says I owe the carrier $0.62 because the postage was short... which just made me laugh:

Balance due the carrier: 62 cents. How did this package get taken away in the first place?!

Besides that, the fun stuff:

Awesome! This is one of those water bottles that rolls up or flattens when it's empty, with a carabiner to clip it to anything. I was NOT expecting something this useful... and Ben has been wanting to try these out too. Score for us!

Yep, I was definitely expecting keychains. They're the Vivo logo in rubber. I think you get one of these in a smaller version attached to your new shoes -? Their packaging is among the nicest I've seen for footwear... each shoe in its own mesh pouch, recyclable cardboard box (which was printed so nicely that I framed the image from inside the box of my latest pair of Vivos and hung it in our guest room).

In the background, a Vivobarefoot lanyard.

Last, a DVD.

Veeery interested to see what this DVD is about - Learn the Skill of Barefoot Running! An instructional DVD. Everybody's got a different twist on barefoot and natural running, so this one should be good. I (obviously) believe in barefoot running, since it's what kept me mostly injury-free and helped me get rid of my back pain for the past 6 months. I like!

Thanks, VivoBarefoot!

So, I love the H20 2 Go bottle, and I'm giving away a (1) VivoBarefoot keychain and (1) lanyard. Leave a comment one of them is all yours! (tell me which one you want)


Ps - we have an update on the poopetrator! More details coming soon in the next post.