Before my feet became unique - and also before I lived here on the arctic circle 🙂 - I went barefoot 24/7, including hiking on difficult terrain and all. I did that for 20 years and I had seriously healthy feet. So much so that my recovery after amputation was exceptionally fast and my balance wasn't overly impacted. The surgeon and the rehab folks did credit the barefooting for that.

Now I only go barefoot indoors - and even that is probably not always very safe anymore. I need shoes outside now for safety, and also because the pressure on my residual bits is too much. I tried a short barefoot hike once after my amputation and it was properly unpleasant.

I believe shoes are never great for feet. But if you have to wear them, bespoke definitely makes a world of difference for sure.

Actually it's my local prosthetist at the hospital. They don't just make prostheses: they make braces and custom footwear also.

And I don't mind sharing how much I paid for them: zero 🙂 Where I live in Europe, healthcare is free, and these shoes were graciously granted to me by the public hospital as a prescription.

And because public money paid for them - i.e. the community - I'm very grateful and I intend to take very good care of them, to avoid having to change them for as long as possible. But if / when I need a new pair, all I have to do is call the hospital and they'll make me another one for free until I die.

I did inquire about the price if I wanted to order a pair like this on my own money, and while they were reluctant to say, I deduce that they run north of 3000 euros. And they're not turning a profit on them.