Meet the man who doesn’t own a pair of shoes after going barefoot for more than a decade – even when walking around mountains.
Robin Greenfield, 37, was inspired to ditch his trainers in 2008 when he joined a university trip travelling across New Zealand and noticed one of his course leaders walking around barefoot.
Robin was “intrigued” and started walking barefoot with him – which he said was a “natural draw and felt amazing”.
From 2011, Robin went barefoot full-time and started strolling around the supermarket, the high street and even mountains without any footwear.
Robin often has to bandage up his own feet due to standing on glass but that hasn’t put him off.
Robin said he spends most of his year barefooted but will put on a pair of shoes when he needs to – if it is snowing or a low temperature.
He also carries a pair of shoes around with him in case he goes somewhere that requires footwear but will often avoid those places as he prefers to be barefooted.
Robin said his feet don’t hurt often but he can sometimes get thorns or glass stuck in his foot and said the worst surface to walk on are allies in the city.
Now, Robin is using his experience going barefoot to teach others how to embrace his unconventional lifestyle.
Robin, an environmental activist, from Asheville, North Carolina, US, said: “I started walking barefoot and I loved it.
“It felt excellent – it was a very natural draw.
“I don’t recall a time having a particular reason except that it felt right. I wanted to go barefoot, and I did it.
“By being barefoot in public spaces, I am often the only one.
“I went to a festival last weekend where there were 5,000 people.
“I didn’t see a single other person that was barefoot, and I had hundreds of people looking at my feet.”
Robin owned just one pair of shoes for three years but got rid of his last pair six months ago and has yet to replace them.
Often he will decide to go with a pair of socks for comfort and warmth.
Robin said he often faces strange looks from people but said he would never go back to wearing shoes.
He said: “It took me years to overcome social norms or stigma – still today I receive some.
“A few years ago, I was walking barefoot in downtown Glendale, California.
“It is a very fancy area, and I could see people in their thousand-dollar clothes looking at me like I was nothing.
“People look down on me a lot, people often assume I am homeless. Their perception is I am down and out, and I have no other choices.
“But the benefit of that is it keeps me humble, I got rid of my last business clothes around eight years ago because I don’t to impress people with my clothes.
“I start at the bottom for a lot of people, and I like that.
“I want to be humble, and it is a practice of humility to be barefoot.”
Robin said his family were “understanding,” but some relatives were “concerned” about what he was doing.
He said: “They were concerned about my future and if I was making choices that were going to create success and such.
“But also, supportive?. The Greenfield’s – we’re a small family and we’re all weirdos in one way or another.
“We’re all unique, none of us fit into the societal norms and so I got a lot of support.
“My mum and dad – I am the thing they are most proud of in their whole entire life.”
Robin says he loves people look at him strangely and ask him questions about why he is barefoot – as it allows him to educate people on why he is doing it.
He said: “For me, being barefoot is an opportunity to reach people at any moment, with every step that I take to break outside societal norm.
“Normal is destroying normality and by continuing the status quo we are leading to the demise of humanity.
“Everywhere I go, I am creating opportunities to shake people up, to stir people up.
“I love for people to ask me why I am barefoot. I love for people to look at me as it gives me the opportunity to reach people.”
Robin has now launched Barefoot School where he teaches people why and how to be barefoot and learn how to love their feet.
The first session took place in Asheville, North Carolina, US, in July 2023 with around 40 attendees.
Robin said: “It was a weekend of reconnecting with the earth through being barefoot as well as foraging, spending time in the woods and connecting with communities.
“Being barefoot was the centre of the school but it was a gateway of reconnecting which is a big part of being barefoot.”
TOP TIPS FOR GOING BAREFOOT
– Start on easier terrain
– Work up to some more challenging terrain
– Don’t push yourself beyond your limits
– Know that some cuts and scratches are ok
– Break free from societal norms
– Design your life around being barefoot
