I have on several occasions been told that I have the happy advantage of looking sporty without actually happening to be (at all) sporty. This having been said, my new MBT trainers can only have seriously enhanced this effect whilst simultaneously, and actually rather effortlessly, increasing my exercise, fitness and general well being.

Designed by Swiss engineer Karl Müller, MBT stands for Masai Barefoot Technology. Müller’s research began in the early 1990s and was inspired by African Masai tribesmen – exceptional atheletes with well-formed bodies and with practically no knowledge of shoes – or of back or joint problems. By walking barefoot on the natural, soft, uneven ground of their East African homeland, the Masai also activate those muscles we don’t when walking on hard, even surfaces wearing conventional shoes. Back in Switzerland, Müller began to develop a footwear technology that would make the natural instability of soft ground accessible also to those, who have to walk on hard surfaces. By 1996, years spent on research and development, led to the first heel-less prototype.

If, as they say, you do need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes to truly understand them I must say that striding around London town my posture most definitely feels more Masai (though, I am still quite some way off the fresh blood milkshake) – and I’m sure everything’s a little firmer!