These $33 Minimal Shoes Are Taking Over

A few weeks ago I had no idea VELHO Movement shoes existed. Come along on my journey to find the truth behind the $33 shoes that claim a thin outsole, a wide toe box, zero drop, and much more - all the components of a barefoot shoe.
Check out VELHO shoes! www.velhoshoes.com/
Aaron Griffiths' Video! • Best Shoes for Movemen...
(His channel is awesome check him out)
Feiyue shoes: feiyue-shoes.com/collections/men
00:00 - A Mysterious Shoe
00:32 - Intro to Velho Shoes
02:18 - Movement Shoes
05:21 - Velho Reveal
08:35 - Feiyue Reveal
10:33 - Velho vs Feiyue
13:11 - Final Thoughts on Velho

[@Ronzo777]

Nice vid, great to see an in-depth comparison. I always wondered about the Feiyue toebox and heel-drop, so these nerdy details are great! Might try the Velhos. :)

[@TrevinFrancom]

Hey Lucas, I've been subbed from all the way back as long as 6 days ago. Thanks for reviewing these.

[@IPrussian]

Super glad ur vid was in my recommended, thank you !!!

[@MayTheSchwartzBeWithYou]

Just FYI, "Feiyue" is pronounced like ""Fay you-eh", with "you-eh" being pronounced as a single syllable. Definitely one of the trickier Chinese sounds for English speakers.

[@BarrioPatrol]

Very true, thank you! I studied martial arts in both Taiwan and mainland China, and learned how to say it from friends I trained with who are native Mandarin speakers. Also FYI: Velho is pronounced "Vel-YOU" It's the Portuguese word for "old" (native Portuguese speaker here 😉)

[@xnigel]

@@BarrioPatrol very impressive experience. Happy to read your story.

[@CA-or9ix]

Thank you for this very informative video. You answered every question I had about both shoes.

[@yenn_rios]

Questions answered! Thank you for this review

[@PGBlanks]

You've really levelled up the editing and storytelling for this one dude 👍

[@xnigel]

Thanks Lucas. Your shares are very helpful. As a fan of Feiyue, I have to say my first time ware this brand of shoes was in 1990s. And my father wore Feiyue was in 1960s. Feiyue and Huili were two famous brands in China back to nearly 100 years ago. Most of old generation people wear them as "sports" shoes. Feiyue is more famous compared to Huili due to Shaolin monk martial arts, which is known by westerners. Why I prefer to wear Feiyue? Because it makes me feel good when doing dead lifting in gym.

[@monad3860]

Nice video, this was definitely an interesting comparison!

[@letsgowalk]

The French version of the Feiyues (which is what you have) is a bit different from the originals from China. There is a long history about this, but Feiyue is a really old school brand made for the masses (and eventually became a martial arts favorite). The French company that purchased the rights made it more stylish with thicker padding. If you can get your hands on the old school version (typically from martial arts stores/sites), you might have a better comparison.

[@simplelucas]

Oh interesting! After finishing the video I noticed that Aaron’s Feiyues looked like a different/older model, so I was thinking if I cut the Feiyues in half I’d look more into the history. This is a great start!

[@JohnMoseley]

@@simplelucas Yeah, the real Chinese ones are crazy cheap: £14 last time I looked here in the UK, and even nicer than the French ones. I and others have made various comments around YT about how it's a shame they don't do a wide toe-box version, as it would kind of be the ultimate minimist shoe. Lately, Splay and Whitin have been offering models along these lines.

[@isaacfawcett4153]

@@JohnMoseley how would I go about getting some? U got a link or anything?

[@JohnMoseley]

@@isaacfawcett4153 I can't post an outside link or KZbin will remove the comment, but the outlet I know of in the UK is Yellow Mountain Martial Arts and they currently sell them for £15.99.

[@isaacfawcett4153]

@@JohnMoseley thanks man

[@FunFactOfTheDay]

Bought a couple pairs of the Feiyues 3 years ago, and the first pair just wore out - only wearing it to the gym and nowhere else (no running either, just lifting). For 20 bucks they are fine! Lots of compliments (they do look sick), and the thing that finally wore out for me was actually the heel canvas. However, they are NARROW - I don't have the widest feet, maybe an E width on a brannock device, but D width shoes are usually fine - these are way too narrow. I just refuse to waste shoes so I'm gonna get 6 years of gym wear out of my 40 total dollars hahaha - but for that price, solid! Also keep in mind there are a bunch of versions of Feiyues - the true chinese martial arts version is exactly the same as the Velhos (as far as I can tell), and the ones he got (same as what I got) are definitely more of a regular shoe. Good, but look for the chinese ones if you want the Feiyue in the barefoot configuration you'll have to shop around, they're tough to get in the US.

[@patchy642]

'Great review! 'Covered everything in an entertaining fashion. I hope Velho get the message. They would clean up as we all get their shoes dirty.

[@lern-undkursvideos2512]

I ordered a pair. They should come in tomorrow. I am very excited. Normally I wear Wildlings or Vivos.

[@idkau]

Did you like them?

[@lern-undkursvideos2512]

@@idkau Mmmh they are way less minimal than I expected. For the price it is a decent shoe, but not comparable to Wilding at all.

[@MFmadlib15]

How was the toe box ? Too small ?

[@LucidDreamer54321]

That's a bummer. Neither shoe is going to work for my flipper feet.

[@azurestrike6551]

The website seems so sketchy. I also got a blank page after payment. Their Instagram videos looks like they made it in their garage too so I am kind of worried about quality. But most of these shoes are like converse to me with a piece of cloth on top so I am not expecting much.

[@kristianpeterson2571]

Hey man. I don't have any experience with zero drop shoes, and I have pretty flat feet. Normally, I wear running shoes to workout in. I have for...ever. But do you think this style would be good for weight lifting? Great review BTW!

[@simplelucas]

Totally! Flat-bottomed / zero drop shoes like this are the bomb for weight lifting, they make you more grounded and improve balance on upright movements like deadlifts and squats

[@CptAngelADVlogs]

They're advertising those as wide? Wow.. Wtf

[@user-ly7bp3uv4n]

They still have too narrow a toebox for me

[@alexandersvensen8882]

These are Feiyue shoes. Sadly they don't make them large enough for US 13. I bought the largest size (in Feiyue) and it's too small. :(

[@sweetnsourify]

Ever since I purchased my Lems Primal I can’t go back to normal shoes. My feet were already splaying more natural throughout the last three years of working from home. Now I really can’t go back but I need a shoe for dancing that is not so wide of a toe box (I think spins just don’t work with a wide toe box) So I’m curious about both of these because I want a normal looking shoe (not a typical dance shoe) that’s also not such a wide toe box that way I can use them for casual dance practice and dancing outside. Can you learn a salsa spin and demonstrate in both shoes for us 😂?? I’m serious.

[@adub-111]

I have the Fe 's and they are uncomfortable! - The OGs. Too narrow. These seem like the same thing to me

[@ladyskye3179]

I was so ready to buy these but they don't make a women size 8. So strange. Great video. Thank you for all your research.

[@antwango]

buy a mans size 8 then? Theyre Unisex??? ive aliexpressed mine and there seem to be a lot of different colour combinations.... i made sure they were cheaper than the 35$ £35 range to be sure they were the Chinese made FeiYues..... im sure there are size 8s, no sure if they distinguish between male female?

[@ladyskye3179]

@@antwango women and men shoes are sometimes different. A women 8 is a man's 7. Men's shoes are usually wider. Thank you

[@FilippoCardoni]

That'd be a great shoe and I'd buy it instanty, but I'm from Italy and with the shipping it ends up being 60€ instead of 30-40€... while the Feiyues don't actually ship in Europe at the moment, their sites says they'll ship it to Europe soon as they're upgrading their network... in that case I believe the Feiyues would be cheaper by at least 20-30€ basically meaning that I'd be able to save up enough to buy 2 pairs Bummer :\

[@simplelucas]

Try something like this! aagsport.com/products/feiyue-topone-lo-classic-martial-art-kung-fu-wushu-tai-chi-training-shoes-size-28-46-unisex-kid-youth-adult-white-black?variant=41385285517472&currency=USD& This is the original Feiyue shoe which is much more similar to the Velho shoes. You should be able to find them on various martial arts gear websites if the link above doesn’t work for you.

[@patacon54]

I think both brands are made for Asian feet which are narrower than western feet, I own a pair of Feiyue and I love them! They are confortable and yes my feet are narrow but it has enough room for my toes

[@FrenchSissoko]

Hahaha, as much as I love them (generically, not by brand name) being a taijiquan practitionner, they are just a pair of cheap old fashionned chinese sports shoes. 20 years ago I bought some for 3 buck in beijing, and it’s so great that they exist! Now that I’m training (half marathon, trail), I discovered all the hype around super shoes vs. minimalist: I was like "I don’t need to buy +100$ hype shoes, I have a ton of minimalist shoes🤣) On another level, Velho whatever is just another clone with a lousy cheap website, there’s no high end R&D team or whatsoever behind this, it’s marketing minimalism made easy😅 And on yet another level, the original Feiyues become hard to find, and they did put money into becoming a brand - which as a result changed their shoes: I bought some feiyues that I end up not wearing, stiff and uncomfortable… Thanks for putting the effort in this not-mainstream video ;-)

[@_TerraRae_]

The toe box does look too narrow. But worth a try!

[@pawballer1964]

Didnt see all the video, but just by taking a glance I can tell these are narrow toebox and same as Feiyue

[@andresramirez8468]

I think it’s meant to be pronounced like the Portuguese velho (sounds like Velyo)

[@simplelucas]

Aha! I should have looked into it more before saying it 85 times

[@aimanadzhan5135]

Toe box is narrow.

[@antwango]

thats the french feiyues, the og Chinese feiyues are most probably closer to the velhos... the og Chinese feiyues arent as flashy or polished or marketed....

[@5kribbles]

Im not sure that super cheap shoes that wear out and need to be replaced quickly is "too good to be true" or should be applauded in any way. Products should be high quality and made to last.

[@Cayoroots]

Even the "higher quality" barefoot shoes wear off quickly, and they cost $100+

[@PGBlanks]

0:16 I'm famous!!!

[@readlesspraymore4686]

....literally just rebranded Feiyue's edit: the top one chinese Feiyue's .. the real ones

[@Barefoot12]

Lmao is was the poor kid from okla with grubby feet. 60 now and living on rio grand and still have grubby feet. I wear 11 I ordered 12. Waiting on a call from shamma about products and will prolly get the old goats and warriors. I am a sprinter so I don't ld. But I have walked thru many shoes. I have never worn runners because they just feel funky and unbalanced. So thanks for the vids! I wear samba and Nike swoop court but my gate is different because I don't run. More of a sauntering.

[@agnesagni]

It does not look flexible, does not bend with ease at the beginning of the toes. Why is there so much rubber in front?

[@geewong4801]

Velho looks nicer, to me

[@bobbychuckles8764]

$33? I get them for 16.

[@user-xu8jl9yc3k]

Where?

[@lordtorka]

I wore Feiyues as dailys and freerunning for years. Those Velho shoes are more like real Feiyues. Those "official" Feiyues are a crappy knockoff trying to capitalize on the name. You wanna buy Feiyues from random, no-name martial arts suppliers to get the real deal.

[@moredatesmorefiber3526]

lol you got ripped out. they are just chinese feiyues but over priced. you made the rookie move of getting the french feiyues.

[@Lawrenseliu]

fei yue is way more better dude