THE TOE SPRING: TECHNICALLY MANUFACTURED FOR COMFORT
What is the Toe spring?
You might notice the elevated toe of the Veldskoen, as seen above. This is called the “toe spring” and it is a technical feature of the Veldskoen shoe, which helps with rolling the foot forward in a more natural way when walking, this helps, especially when you have a slightly firmer sole material as the Veldskoen does for durability, making it a more comfortable walking motion.
A good shoe should form to the way you walk not the other way round
Once your feet are in the shoe and it has been worn, it will naturally flatten out a little from the pressure of your weight on the shoe, but it will retain the perfect technical aspect of the toe spring in the design to aid in the comfortable rolling movement of your foot while walking.
How we walk
According to the shoe snob “When you walk, most people start with the outward edge of your heel and go forward in a diagonal angle where the next part of your foot that touches would be the inside ball of the foot. This is called pronating and is how most of us walk. At the point in which you hit the inside ball of your foot, you then start to spring off of the ground with your toes in order to project yourself forward. This is where toe spring comes into place as your shoes need to not be flat but rather have a slight upwards angle from the ball of the foot to toe in order to make that spring motion more natural.”
So what is the ideal toe spring?
Well according to Tony Gaziano of Gaziano & Girling the right amount is just where you can stick a normal pencil or pen should not be able to go very far inwards but just through the toe to the point where the entire pencil can sit comfortably underneath the toe part of the sole. As seen above
The Techie stuff
Traditionally raised heel shoes will give some resistance to the downward pressure of toes, resulting in a state of leverage at the ball of the foot. Shoes with high heel require low toe spring because the toes are already in a flexed and pressed down position. This results in the foot being placed down rigidly rather than flexed during walking. But a low heel shoe needs to bend more while walking. So a little more toe spring is required.
What this means for you
The toe spring in your Veldskoen has been a technical feature that is designed to increase comfort and decrease stress and strain on your feet and knees while you go about your day. It unusual when you first try on your Veldskoen but after a week or so of wear your toe spring and the leather of your shoe is designed to settle into and mold to your feet and the way that you walk. Feel a little we hope this helps you understand your shoe a little more