Elite Maximus (9mm)

I do love these sandals! I am a very happy owner of Ibex and Warrior - these so far are as perfect as those. I run in shoes 8.5 - all my sandals are a size 8. I am using female sizes :) Hope you will love your pair of Shamma's as I have!

I love these sandals and have been wearing them for 4+ years. I rebuy soles when I wear through them (every couple of years through daily wear). After 4 years, I wore through the original straps, so I bought this complete replacement pair, and will use the previous soles when I go through these. I have run in them in the past, but running is no longer my daily exercise, so I do expect these will last even longer.

I got the Elite Maximus with the leather footbed. Loved them from day 1. I have a pair of Bedrock Cairn Pro sandals to compare these to, and the Elite Maximus are far more comfortable - because of the leather footbed but also because the stack height is lower at 9mm vs Bedrock 14mm so you get more of a ground feel. Also, I have to say while the elite lacing system can be quite complex can take several days/iterations to adjust, once you get it right, these things are the most comfortable sandals I've ever worn. Snug and fit like a glove. I can't get the same level of custom support from the Bedrock strapping system. Side note - I sized up 0.5 from my normal shoe size, but I would recommend sizing down 0.5 instead. I ended up having too much space up front and now need to go to a cobbler to get the front trimmed.

I was wearing zero-drop Altra Torrins to walk my dogs 2-3 miles every day, but became frustrated by having to buy a new pair every 350 miles bc the foam in the shoe would break down in such a way that it caused pain to radiate up the back of one of my legs and into my lower back. I wondered if a minimalist shoe would bypass that whole issue and be better overall. A year ago, I had purchased a barefoot sandal from another brand, but my pinky toe hung off the side so I was hesitant to try again. When I contacted Shamma, they told me their sandals could be filed down to my foot shape, so I could order a larger shoe so get the proper width and have the length filed down. After some emailing with a staff person, I ended up ordering Shamma size 6.5 (I'm generally a 7.5 in all regular brands of shoes). When the shoe arrived, I thought the size was perfect and my toes were all accounted for with the width, so I didn't even need to have it filed down at all. I've now put a little over a 100 miles on the sandals, and I love them. There was a getting-used-to-them period in the beginning while I figured out how to adjust the straps (velcro irritated the back of my heel, toe strap hurt). I also changed the way I walked. I guess I used to lumber around (lol) but now I walk with more intention. It feels like I'm using more of my body when I walk and I stand up straighter. I love how it feels to walk in them, too. It's like I'm using my whole foot when walking now. One downside, is that I haven't found a way to feel stable and secure on my feet while in them. When wearing sneakers, if my dogs pull me when they see a cat, I have a super stable base and they can't move me. In these sandals, I just don't seem to. The other day, my dog lunged at another dog while I was walking him, and I stutter-stepped a bit causing the sandal on my right foot to fold up a bit under itself. Due to that, I fell, scraped my right leg a bit and got a gnarly bruise. So, I'm still figuring that part out. But, I have no other complaints and I love wearing them, especially in the summer (the sandal tan line is so much better than the sock/sneaker tan line!).

The strap design is great! I have had similar sandals that put a lot of stress on the second toe and I honestly don’t even notice that these are on my feet. Great for canoeing and other river/lake fun. The straps do take awhile to dry once you get them soaked but otherwise they are great.