Minimalist Shoe Hack - Skora Base

I recently posted my review of the Skora Base, a really neat shoe concept with a flaw that made it a real challenge for me to wear and enjoy. This is largely due to my oddly long, skinny feet. I also previewed how I went about solving this problem.

Well, here is the full explanation of how I solved my quandary of the overly loose velcro strap.... in picture form.

Putting my newly-acquired sewing skills into practice. I simply doubled over about 1/2 an inch worth of strap material to shorten its overall length.

The aftermath: you can see my understated handiwork on the portion of the X-strap on the outside of each foot. The shoe fits much, much better now with the tighter range of adjustment.

Close-up. This was the cleaner of the two sewing hacks.

More close-up. Not bad, eh?

The machine tracked a bit off for this side (yeah, it was.... uh.... the machine! that's it, the machine goofed up.). Either way, it still works and is almost unnoticeable.

Good look at both shoes together. You can see the difference.  :(

All buttoned down in "on my foot" mode. Fits perfectly with the velcro portion fully... er, velc'd? Cro'd? With all the hooks on the one part hooked into the loops on the other part. 

Other side.

You can see that tightening the straps did not cause the upper to wrinkle too awful badly. That was a concern when I started, but it is not noticeable during normal wear. 

So there it is. I took my Skora Bases from almost unwearable for running on my skinny foot to delightfully snug. Also, I discovered that these shoes work better with a medium-to-thick sock than they do sockless. They are going to be my winter shoe of choice.

Next up: The thumb holes on my rad Mizuno WP (windproof) soft shell jacket are tiny - apparently designed for tiny Japanese runners. I have fatty American thumbs. How will I go about fixing this one? Maybe then I'l channel my inner Krupicka and start hacking away at my New Balance MT 100s that see no use these days.

Reminder to all readers: my giveaway of Michael Sandler's Barefoot Running movie ends tomorrow evening! Check out this post see how to enter. Stay tuned, and until then, happy running!