About Us

Chad and Klara started Manimal because they were so impressed with what switching to barefoot shoes did for them. Chad has scoliosis to a high degree and generally always has back pain and hips that are not straight causing pain in the lower back as well. They noticed that whenever he wore a particular pair of sandals as compared to another pair, his pain was markedly less. After that, they put together that the “good” sandals had a thinner sole, and had a much lower rise to the heel than his “other” sandals and certainly much lower than the Red Wing boots he wears in cold weather.

So, they started looking around online and found some info about Barefoot Shoes. The closest store to them is in Bratislava, so they took a 2.5 hour drive and went shopping. In the end, Chad didn’t find anything, but Klara brought home a new pair of Vivobarefoot trainers for the gym. She wouldn’t shut up about them and people were frequently asking her about them. She found reasons to wear them whenever she could. Soon after they had to go to Berlin for a conference and Germany is the home of Barefoot Shoes, so they made time to really look around. This time they both found shoes. Chad walked around the conference for two days for 9 hours a day in his new barefoot shoes and wouldn’t stop talking about how much fun it was and how little pain he had in his back, feet and legs. Fast forward to that November and they started building the first store in Hungary to pass on their good fortune and experiences to everyone they could find.

With their location in Székesfehérvár, Hungary (the center of the world), they have begun to be a beacon of barefootedness for all the world and have begun shipping to other countries in the EU and even the U.S.A. They are very stubborn and passionate people and they won’t rest until their message of “Feel Good” and their shoes have reached every corner of the world!

You too can Feel Good in your shoes, give them a call, write them a message or just buy some shoes! You won’t be sorry and you’ll soon be replacing your current shoe collection with Manimal Shoes :-)