Barefoot shoe brand Blusun: '15 years ago there were three competitors, today there are 150'

The barefoot shoe market is booming and represents a strong growth area within the footwear segment. The founders of the German barefoot shoe brand Blusun explain why barefoot shoes are so successful and how the segment has developed in recent years.

Barefoot shoes are one of the few dynamically growing segments within the footwear market, which has been stagnating for years. Once ridiculed as unattractive health shoes, they are now developing into an independent trend with growing market relevance. Brands like the German start-up Blusun from Pirmasens are proving, with a growing fan base, that health shoes can also be fashionable and contemporary. The two CEOs and founders, Dirk Pfeffer (sales) and Silvia Brindlmayer (design), only founded the company in 2024, yet are among the pioneers in this young market. In this interview, they explain why barefoot shoes are so interesting and how the market and their brand have developed.

How did you come up with the idea of starting your own barefoot shoe brand?

Dirk Pfeffer: I don't actually come from the footwear industry, but I first encountered a barefoot shoe brand at a running event in 2010. It was Leguano. And I was totally impressed by what barefoot shoes do to the body and the muscles. So I quit my job at the time and built up international sales at Leguano from 2010 to 2018. I set up 86 shops, carried out training measures, gave running courses and seminars, conducted training for employees, etc.

In 2018, I decided to found my own barefoot shoe brand that no longer looked like barefoot shoes. This is how Groundies came about. Together with the designer Silvia Brindlmayer, who was involved from the very beginning, we built up the brand. In 2023, the brand was taken over by the Weltbild Group.

Therefore, in 2023, Silvia and I decided to start all over again – with a barefoot shoe brand that stands for our values: high-quality materials; flexible and non-slip soles; a modern design; and above all, a real barefoot feeling without compromise. Blusun was founded in January 2024, and we launched the first collection in May 2024. It was a complete success.

So you started with barefoot shoes out of personal conviction?

Dirk Pfeffer: Yes, absolutely. I have been running exclusively in barefoot shoes or completely barefoot for 15 years. It has given me back my quality of life. I am convinced of it and live it.

Ms Brindlmayer, have you dealt with barefoot shoes before?

Silvia Brindlmayer: I am a classically trained footwear designer and have been in the industry since 2004. I worked for many years for renowned brands, both in the commercial and luxury sectors. In 2016, I then became self-employed, initially continuing in classic footwear design.

Then, in 2018, Pfeffer approached me with the question of whether I could imagine designing a barefoot shoe. Until then, I had hardly any contact with barefoot shoes. At that time, it was still an extremely niche market, often negatively connoted, rather ecologically oriented and visually not very appealing. But that's exactly where our idea came from: We wanted to rethink barefoot shoes – modern, stylish, high-quality and comfortable to wear, without immediately thinking, "That's a health shoe."

We started down this path with Groundies, and with Blusun we wanted to take the whole thing to a new level – in terms of design and quality. It works: We are reaching not only the barefoot shoe community, but also more and more people who had never considered wearing such a shoe before.

That also means you didn't have to start from scratch for Blusun.

Dirk Pfeffer: No. We were only able to start so well because we already had the experience in sales, production and design.

What makes a barefoot shoe a barefoot shoe?

Dirk Pfeffer: Firstly, it has a very thin, flexible sole and there is no heel elevation at the back, so zero drop. Because when I walk barefoot, I stand straight on the ground. In addition, there must be sufficient space in the toe area so that the toes can spread out and are not squeezed, as for example in court shoes or even in some trainers. A barefoot shoe is so flexible that I can roll it up completely, which means it completely moulds to the foot and protects it. Because you might not like to walk barefoot in the city, the shoe takes over the protective function but leaves the foot all its freedom.

Why are barefoot shoes better than conventional shoes?

Dirk Pfeffer: From an evolutionary point of view, humans have only been wearing firm shoes for a very short time. If you put your feet in a shoe with little flexibility and space every day, the foot will be squeezed. As a result, the muscles are no longer activated and the toes can no longer move. As a consequence, the arch of the foot collapses. Splayfoot, flat foot, clubfoot, hollow foot, hallux valgus, pronation and supination are therefore the results of deactivated foot musculature. The foot is very powerful because it is structured in the same way as the hand: the same number of bones, ligaments and tendons, completely identical.

However, we put our feet in a shoe in the morning, take it off in the evening and then go to bed. If you were to do this with your hand for years – which you would never do voluntarily – then the abilities of your hand would atrophy. Barefoot shoes offer people the opportunity to retrain their foot muscles. This allows them to achieve better statics and reduce knee, hip and back problems, as the body can realign itself naturally.

How has the barefoot market developed in recent years?

Dirk Pfeffer: When I started in 2010, there were three or four competitors internationally. When I founded the Groundies brand in 2018, there were 26 competitors. Today there are over 150, including many cheap providers from the Far East, some of whom are very aggressive on social media. 78 brands exhibited at the Offenbach shoe fair, including us. And I think it's very important that there are many brands because each brand creates visibility for the end consumer.

Five years ago, we were talking about a market share of 0.2 to 0.3 percent of the total footwear market in Germany, but now we are at 1.3 to 1.5 percent of the total footwear market. Internationally, the barefoot shoe market is at 0.12 to 0.13 percent of the total footwear market. You can see the potential there. The barefoot shoe market is growing between 10 and 15 percent every year. Classic shoe retailers are also increasingly approaching us because barefoot shoes are a growth segment.

Silvia Brindlmayer: It must also be said that our shoes are simply very high quality and have a great fit. That's why shoe retailers can sell them well. Our leather comes from Italy, from the Heinen tannery in Mönchengladbach and Oehler in Baden-Württemberg. When you pick up this leather, you melt. And the development of the last [a mold on which a shoe's upper is formed,ed.] was also a long process in close cooperation with a last maker in Pirmasens. Only when the last is in place can the sole be developed. Then comes the choice of material. If everything is coordinated step by step, then you get the perfect shoe.

How many new models do you develop per year? How seasonally do you work?

Silvia Brindlmayer: We work with many different colours, but not with very many new cuts. This is because barefoot customers are very loyal and prefer to buy a new colour than a new model. That's why the development of a barefoot shoe collection is very slow compared to the normal shoe market, where the focus is very much on speed and novelty. With barefoot shoes, it's actually the case that you continue to work on existing collections and don't constantly bring out completely new models.

How big is your collection?

Silvia Brindlmayer: We currently have three trainer cuts in different colours and materials and four winter boots.

Dirk Pfeffer: We are also concerned with strengthening the trade. There are enough competitors of ours who have a very broad collection and a lot of colours. And who replace the models with new models after six months. This is difficult for the trade. Firstly, this is usually accompanied by a sale from the producer. And secondly, it immediately devalues the old collection when the new season starts.

We don't do sales promotions in our web shop and offer carry-over never-out-of-stock models. Those who don't sell everything in one season can be sure that this model will continue in the next season or will be offered again next summer. So we accommodate the trade in the sense that we help reduce their tied-up capital and stock levels and give them the opportunity to reorder individually and according to their needs.

How many retailers sell Blusun and in which countries?

Dirk Pfeffer: Currently, there are around 95 retailers, of which about 65 are in Germany and the rest are spread across Europe – mainly Switzerland and the Netherlands – Kazakhstan, China and Japan. The US is currently on hold. We have a partner there who would like to order but doesn't really know what the customs formalities are yet. We have also just received an enquiry from South Africa.

What I'm really pleased about is that retailers are now approaching us because they have seen and tried on the shoe somewhere in the world and were convinced by the quality. That really gives me goosebumps.

Which retailers do you work with? Are they mainly specialists or classic shoe retailers?

Dirk Pfeffer: Currently, 70 to 80 percent are retailers who specialise in barefoot shoes and who have sprung up like mushrooms in the last five years because they have recognised the potential. However, more and more classic shoe retailers are being added. At the Barefoot Fair in Offenbach, some retailers also said that they wanted to start with a small range of barefoot shoes.

What kind of customers buy barefoot shoes? How has the target group changed?

Dirk Pfeffer: When I started in 2010, it was women over 60, and the men were "forced" to wear the shoes too. With Groundies, we were able to reduce the age through the more fashionable look. Then it started from the age of 45 to 50. With Blusun, we have actually succeeded in attracting younger people from their mid-30s. But it is still mostly women. We have a 70 percent female share and a 30 percent male share. But of the 30 percent of men, 90 percent of the decisions about which shoes the men wear are still made by women. This means that women actually make 95 percent of the decisions for our shoes.

Where do you produce?

Silvia Brindlmayer: We produce in Portugal and attach great importance to transparency in production. Apart from the last, everything is produced in Portugal with short supply chains. Our leathers come exclusively from Italy and Germany, the goatskin also from Portugal. We want to know exactly where everything comes from. There are also materials that we are currently doing without because we don't yet like where they come from.

How has your company developed in the last year? What turnover were you able to achieve in the first year?

Dirk Pfeffer: We started at just under 700,000 euros for the whole of 2024. In the first six months of 2025, we have now reached the first million euros in turnover and think that we can more than double turnover by the end of the year. For 2026, we are aiming to double turnover again. For this purpose, we will be getting an outstanding sales employee from October who will support us in this.

What other plans do you have?

Dirk Pfeffer: We want to consolidate our customer base first and will be launching a new trainer in spring 2026 that has more volume, because we have seen the demand from the barefoot shoe community. We have already presented it at the fair and it was very, very well received.

You talk about the barefoot community. How do you work with the community?

Silvia Brindlmayer: We are very lucky – I never had this before in the normal shoe sector – that we can present our prototypes to our community and they give us feedback before the shoe is fully developed. So we can intervene again before the shoe comes onto the market. That's really great and that's what distinguishes the normal shoe industry from the barefoot shoe industry. We are really extremely close to our community and in constant exchange.

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