Astral Men's Loyak Shoes - Barefoot, Quick-Drying, Minimalist Sneaker for Casual Wear, Water Sports, Travel, & Hiking

I believe this is my first review. These shoes are incredible and I'll tell you why. I am a whitewater paddleboarder. I go through class 2-3 rapids standing on a paddleboard. I bought these shoes to paddle a section of the Colorado River in Moab, Utah. These shoes were incredible! They were comfy, but also super grippy. If a wave hits me, I am fairly stable at a 30 degree pitch left or right. Greater than 30 degrees and my feet slip off my board. Well, my limit extended to almot 45 degrees. I felt so connected to my board. I've never felt like that. Wearing these shoes allowed me to run rapids I normally would fall in. They were incredible in Moab. Then we get back to Arizona and the rains charged our river and creeks. So we started hitting up our local rivers and creeks. Well I got myself into a sticky situation. My feet got entrapped and I had to kick off my brand new Astral shoes to free my feet. I got to safety but lost my shoes. I was way less confident the rest of the river because I did not have my Astrals on. We eventually finished our expedition and immediately ordered another pair of Astrals once I had cellphone reception. Turns out I would not receive the shoes in time for my next paddle adventure. So I drove to REI and bought another pair. I used that pair yesterday on another paddleboarding adventure. So far these shoes have held up very well to the abuse of trecking through a river. These are FANTASTIC when it comes to being grippy. Mossy, slippery rocks are very doable with this shoe. I hiked out of a canyon yesterday wearing these shoes. I have to say, I will only rock Astrals from now on. These shoes make me a better whitewater paddleboarder. Come tomorrow I'll now have 2 pairs of Astrals. These things take a beating, workd very well around water and look good too.

This is my second product review ever, and this shoe deserves it. I bought the navy ones before a trip to NZ in 2019. I walked for hours across sharp lava rock on Rangitoto, the volcanic island in Auckland, wore them on many 25 mile days of trekking across South Island. I walked in them in rain, across streams, over pastures, sliding on scree, on hot pavement, and while kayaking. When the time came to have a nice dinner in town, these shoes did not look out of place with a pair of jeans and a sports jacket. When I came back home to Hawaii I found every other shoe felt heavy and clunky. So when I wasn't wearing our state footwear, aka Da Slippah, I wore these: across our dense red soil, on my weed-choked 5 acre "farm," on many of our 125 O'ahu beaches, and on bicycle rides with pedals that shred soles for breakfast. That original NZ pair is still kicking, only slightly worse for the wear. But the vagaries of fashion and supply chains being what they are, I've had to buy a second pair to make sure I have a back-up pair. What's so great about these? Key words: - Comfortable AF - Lightweight - Versatile (outdoor adventure or urban wear) - Resilient (The lack of wear given the abuse I've put them through is stunning) - Water-friendly - Easy to clean (I throw them in the washer) - Packable (they squish down flat) - Value Should you buy a pair of your own even though you don't plan to walk across sharp lava? Yes...yes you should.

Like others have said before... just buy them! This review is long past due. If you like minimalist shoes without paying an arm and a leg like for Vivobarefoot (although they are quality). Other reviewers have taken off points because they make their feet hurt...well duh! these are minimalist shoes and have no super thick padding or arch support. So when you are new to walking more natural your feet will be sore, but will eventually get stronger from really using your foot muscles and soon foot, leg and even back pains while walking start to get better. Please look up all the info about the barefoot/minimalist movement and its benefits. Size is spot on. Ordered a size 10 and they fit just right.It has that nice wide toebox just like Vivobarefoot. The grip is other worldly. I thought they were exaggerating, but these shoes have to be tried to believe them. I use them for the city/urban areas and they just grip in such a nice way without getting stuck/tripping up, if you know what I mean. Oh and they are made of hemp. Look up all the great qualities of hemp for yourselves. You will be amazed. Hemp is many times stronger than steel. It keeps odor down. Also helps the environment by cleaning up toxins from the earth(even radiation) and is super sustainable. Ok so the only down side, which, isn't even so bad is the opening. It does not have a tongue. It just had an elastic type opening, which, frustrated me at first, but soon it loosens up or you could use a shoe horn. Tip* you want to grab the front part of the opening with one hand and the back, slide your foot in and gently bring up the back over your heel. Something like that. Also the quality is superb. You know when you open a new product and you can just tell its gonna be good. There are no loose threads, everything is clean, the cuts are precise...its just quality. PS the website fake spot has ratings for product reviews like this shoe on amazon. This shoes gets an A! (they rejected my first review of this product for referring that site...I wonder why? In summary try the shoe its a great quality, fits great, has a great grip and has a better price value than other more expensive minimalist brands. Enjoy!

I love these shoes, but there’s one thing that drops them to 4 stars. They stink after wearing 4 times. Yes they got wet for most of the day each time but for this money they should have better anti-microbial protection. PROS: very good traction on every surface, specially I use them on the boat. Super light weight and comfortable fit. I can wear them all day long. Overall very good construction I see them lasting a long time. CONS: they stink! Not good at preventing odor which sucks because I was hoping to wear them more everyday even even when not on the water. I can forgive them for having some odor especially on the boat it’s not noticeable. Overall o recommend and would buy again but just know that they will stink if you use them in saltwater as I have.

Got these near the end of the summer for use while boating and in/near the water. My experience so far: Fit/wearing: The shoes run small. I sent the originals back and then got the next size up. They are designed without a tongue and so are tricky to put on especially at first. Slide your foot all the way in, then use your finger to work the back of the shoe over your heel. This operation gets easier and takes less time within a few wearings as the material relaxes, but it isn't like most casual shoes. Feel: When wearing the shoes without socks, the textured insole produces a sensation of walking on coarse sand. I found that this takes some getting used to, but in the end is OK. The shoe and sole are lightweight and consistent with the barefoot genre. Water: The shoes take more than 24 hours to dry out at room temperature. So far they have been fully soaked and dried twice with no signs of damage. They protect from pebbles and rocks in the water, but if I were going to spend the day going in and out I would choose a dedicated water shoe that could be replaced at a lower cost. Style: The toe box is wide so the shoes have a kind of planted, vaguely orthotic appearance that again is consistent with the genre. The blue-brown color combination helped sell me on the shoe. However contrast of the brown laces called too much attention so I changed over to the included blue laces.

Update after 1 year of use: The gray colorway was the least offensive colorway they sold at the time and I just cannot make myself want to wear these most of the time. I got these as water / travel shoes and I would have preferred something in white, not off white, not light gray but WHITE for casual wear at the beach. I have tried hiking in these shoes but they fail to be an appropriate approach shoe due to the lack of any lugs on the bottom and the G.15 rubber is just NOT GRIPPY on wet rock at all. In fact quite slippery. This is surprising given this is a WATER SHOE. Speaking of which, I recently took these shoes to swim and snorkel in Okinawa's small islands. They shoes dry fast, but for swimming the laces always come undone even with a double knot. So in summary, they're ugly, they don't grip well on wet rock, they come untied in the water and are in general not a great hiking shoe, travel show or water shoe. ---------------------- original review: Astral has two rubber compounds and this model of shoe has the less gripper G.15 rubber. Their G.ss rubber is far more grippy. Regardless of the lack of grip, they fit great and are extremely comfortable considering how thin the midsole is. It’s very soft. I have not tried these on wet rocks yet but I think these will become my light weight approach shoes and water shoes. Astral, if you’re reading this, put your G.ss rubber on all shoes. No one will complain about having more grip and any loss in durability will be moot as I am sure I’ll wear out the upper long before the outsole. Also your available colorways straight suck and or blow… I’ve already emailed your team with my offer to do some free design work for you to improve your designs and colorways. Stop with the gray and navy shoes. You’re a sports brand. Black is always gonna sell, but make some fun sports colors. Reference what adidas or Altra has been doing in their trail running shoes. Adidas used to be my go to as for a time you could get stealth rubber on many of their sports shoes. Adidas destroyed stealth and the brand five ten. Very sad, but Astral you have a chance to take over the serious outdoor sport shoe market. Climbing Approach shoes, canyon shoes, scrambling shoes, you can do this and it can be done with style.

Great shoe

These shoes amaze me. In summer all good fly fishers sets aside waders and cleated boots and wade in as little gear as sun and insects allow. I took them fly fishing and wet waded 5 hours (see gif of typical riffles). I came home, and in the process of cleaning them, found front and rear drains. I also noticed tiny manufactured cuts on the soles called "siping". Siping makes Blizzak and X-Ice winter tires super grippy on ice, so grippy that when the light turns green, and you pull away responsibly on snow and ice, 3/4 of the way down the street, when you check your rearview mirror, everyone is still at the light playing bumper cars. Yes, significant insurance savings. My knees and ankles aren't great due to abuse and age. I'm a nervous and newbie wader on slippery, bowling ball sized (or larger) rocks. I use a wading staff but things get awkward when it floats away. These wading shoes inspire confidence in me. I found a 100' long string of large, dark, white spotted boulders down the center of a side channel. I walked their spine like I was on a side walk, ignoring the 2' deep water on either side. Anyway, when I got home, fearing eventual damage to my super shoes, I found a backup pair at a local white water shop. They were only $90, but they weren't the AC model. They're lined with a robust mesh and lack the side panels of the AC model. I put both in my car, and the next time I went wading for 4 hours, I grabbed two. I left my wading socks in the car and wore just the shoes. Simms UPF50 bugstopper pants, shirt, gloves, and super shoes. No bugs, no burns, no socks and no slipping. Liberating. They make me feel like a wader 1/3 my age. When I got home, and grabbed the shoes to clean them, I paused. One had blue laces, and the other brown. One was the model AC, and the other wasn't. My actual wading age was showing. I waded for hours and didn't know I used a primary and a backup shoe. I took it up notch, fly fishing and wading two days in northern WY wearing just the ACs. I waded three rivers and a creek. Two rivers had softball sized rocks with loose gravel that got in the shoes. When I emptied them out they still rattled. It turns out the insoles come out (and go back easily) and a dozen pebbles were hiding under there. This is a useful bit of info, because when you clean them, remove the insoles, wash and dry them separately, and all's good. All in, I waded 11 hours. They rubbed some skin off the top of two toes on my left foot (I'll spare you that pic). They're brand new shoes and my feet were wet 11 hours over two days. Getting to the creek involved walking through a late summer WY desert several times: no shades, no vest, thunderstorm, etc. The mesh insteps gathered loads of deep penetrating weed seeds and some fine sand. I spent a half hour with my tiny Swiss Army knife tweezers getting that out of the mesh. These are now my whole summer "wading kit", or until the water gets cold enough for waders with neoprene booties, and studded wading boots. Seven months in heavy gear, five months bare foot in super shoes. These things are reasonably priced, siped, durable, grippy, light, easy to clean, quick drying, and convenient. You don't drive in waders and wading boots! You have to remove your regular gear, pull on the waders, and boots, and undo all that each time you plan to drive a while. With these, you put them on at home, drive to parking "near" the river, hike to it, wade and fish it, hike back, drive to your next venue, get dinner at Los Cabana Del Tequila, you name it. Wade, fish, drive, wine and dine confidently. These things are great. Please excuse spelling and grammar errors, the shoes aren't responsible.