Shoe blog

Skechers Shape Ups

By now, many of you will have seen the new Skechers “Shape Ups” walking shoes:

Skechers Shape-ups ‘Motivation’ $110

These look very similar to the MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) ‘anti-shoe’ -- complete with rocker bottom and enthusiastic claims to health benefits:

MBT ‘Sport 2′ $245

From all I have read, people who buy MBT’s love them. Similarly, people who are trying Shape-ups are also loving their new Skechers.

So, MBT or Skechers?  MBT definitely has had time to work on their technology.  But, at $150-$350 per pair, many people are unable to justify even trying the MBT’s without some guarantee that the footwear will work out for them.

At an average retail of $110 for the Skechers (I saw them at an outlet mall for about $60 right after they were released) they are considerably more affordable to the average consumer; Skechers has a good chance of gaining solid market saturation to a degree that we never saw with the higher-priced, niche-marketed MBT’s.

Of course, the obvious questions to now ask are how the two brands actually compare in quality, fit, function, and technology. So far, in actual comparisons of the two brands, Skechers fair very well as the low-priced, effective alternative to MBT’s.

You can also read more reviews of the Skechers Shape Ups here, here and here. While MBT’s website as well as Zappos are both filled with positive reviews of the MBT brand.