Hey all, I’m retiring almost all of my footwear - After working from home in VFFs and sandals for a few years every single pair of normal boots and shoes that I own is a size or a size and a half too small. Now I’m in the market for a couple of pairs of barefoot boots that don’t trash my smallest two toes on one foot.

So far I’ve tried the Jim Green barefoot African ranger in my true brannock size (12) and it was murder - the toebox rounds just in the right place to thrash those toes while at the same time being so wide that I have to crank the laces down enough that the boot folds over the bridge of my foot (just below the start of the tongue) when snugged down.

Here’s a JG barefoot African ranger (BFAR) in size 12, these murder my smallest two toes and fold over the foot bridge when snugged:

A JG BFAR size 12½ is better but still not great, and if I use enough insole (4-6mm) to solve the volume issue my toes hit the top of the toebox on those last two toes:

At this point I’m kinda loathe to keep trying these things, maybe a 12½ or 13 in their non barefoot last (JG regular or STC) might fit with thick veg tan insoles or something but I’d rather just find a boot that actually fits my toebox instead of trying to jury rig a fit that’ll never be quite right.

Anyone have suggestions here? The closest thing I can find to these boots is the Bearfoot Bruin Patriot, but they’re twice the price and I have no idea what my sizing is going to be.

I’m also kinda toying with the idea of a set of Nick’s boots DeltaArch half length insoles, those should give enough mid foot volume that I’m not folding boots over the top of my feet when snugging them down but that’s another ~55-65$ to solve a problem that wouldn’t exist with a better toebox shape around the last two toes.

Some thoughts: I’m not entirely set on zero drop, if a boot has a toebox that fits well I don’t mind a little bit of heel drop as long as it’s not more than something like a wedge sole. I’d be fine with a JG wedge sole boot if it fit though ideally I’d prefer no more than maybe 15-16mm of sole stack at the thickest if possible. I’m tall enough already, I don’t need to tower over people in 3in heels.

Edit: sizing pics in case anyone has similar feet and has found something that works well:

So far everything that fits well has been a size 12-12½US or a 46-47EU with an anatomical toebox, VFFs in 47 fit comfortably and these Splay slides in US 12 are great too: