There is something disarming about a company that publishes what didn’t work. I first came across this approach at startup events called FailCon, where high-tech founders would bare all and tell people about the mistakes of their lives — money they lost, lives they crushed. And we loved them more for it. Because for every company that works, there are probably a thousand that don’t.

Vivobarefoot, the shoe company taking on Nike and Adidas by turning technology inward — into the people who wear their shoes rather than external gels, soles, and supports — has made failure part of its annual reporting. You can find it laid out plainly in the Unfinished Business Report 2025, an integrated annual report that reads more like a working notebook.

Vivobarefoot is not a public company. There are no quarterly earnings calls to perform for, so they don’t need to do this. The business remains majority owned by the Clark family, with founders Galahad Clark and Asher Clark retaining control. A minority investment from Sofina Group provides patient capital, alongside a long-standing manufacturing partner and a small group of Crowdcube investors. That structure matters. It explains why this report can afford to be honest.

The report is clear about where things fell short. A strong women’s campaign delivered more than 11% growth but left men’s sales down 1% year-on-year, a reminder that focus can also create imbalance. VivoBiome, the much-celebrated scan-to-print footwear initiative, generated awards and media attention, but scanning and production bottlenecks limited volumes and sales.

There were also product issues, including waterproofing and bonding failures in the Tracker Low and High boots, now fixed, and persistent stock availability problems that meant customers often couldn’t get the styles they wanted. None of this is dramatized. It’s presented as information — signals from the system.

What sits alongside these limitations is slower, less flashy progress. ReVivo, Vivobarefoot’s resale and repair platform, now accounts for up to 15% of sales. More than 63,000 pairs were repaired or refurbished this year. During Repair Week, demand overwhelmed expectations — queues outside stores, thousands of repairs booked in days.

Financially, the company grew to £91.4 million in revenue, sold 1.2 million pairs, and maintained a B Corp score of 119.3. But the report resists the idea that regeneration can ever be “done.” Growth is treated as something fragile — easily undone by logistics, incentives, or execution. The company has also published reports by human resources which show a 7.5 happiness rating for employees.

I’ll add a small personal note. Early this year, Vivobarefoot sent us a pair of wool barefoot shoes. I didn’t love them at first. They felt less stable than the ones I’ve bought over the years with laces. (I run in barefoot shoes too). The soles, padded with a rubber/cork composite, irritated my feet in a way that felt like a warm tingling. Then, gradually when I was in Berlin in the fall, I started wearing them as an every day shoe. Somewhere along the way, they became the shoes I reach for every morning. The weather has something to do with it.

Vivobarefoot doesn’t promise instant transformation — of bodies, businesses, or systems. They even suggest that when you buy their shoes wear them at increments until you get used to them. Your better posture should come from within, not given to you by an inflexible sole and the security of a cushioned heel.

Unfinished Business 2025 offers a blueprint for companies people want to support and work for: a company willing to stay with discomfort, to publish what didn’t work and what does.

The post Vivobarefoot reports on its unfinished business, and failures appeared first on Green Prophet.

Bunions are painful, unattractive, and make choosing shoes a nightmare. If you’ve been trying to ignore your bunions through the summer, the coming of winter and the need for closed shoes may be making you look for new solutions to the problem. Here are some tips for alleviating bunion discomfort and how to know when it’s time for surgery.

How to Reduce Bunion Pain Naturally

1.Throw out the Stilettos

Bunions have genetic as well as lifestyle causes. Still, it’s clear that wearing restrictive shoes or shoes that change the way you walk contributes to the problem. Pick shoes that move with your foot and don’t restrict your toes. Ideally, you can ask your podiatrist to prescribe the best shoes for you.

2. Take Joint Supplements

Arthritis may make your bunion symptoms worse. Take joint supplements to naturally reduce the symptoms of both arthritis and bunions. Do your research to choose supplements that are likely to have real effects based on clinical studies.

3. Maintain a Healthy Weight

More weight on your feet means more pain in your bunions. Even losing a few pounds may make a difference in how you move and the resulting pain in your bunions. If you find it difficult to exercise, a low-impact option like swimming or cycling may be less likely to cause pain than running.

4. Cushion the Bunion

Pressure on your bunions hurts. It also tends to change the shape of your foot or the way you walk, which will increase the bunion. Using a gel-filled or moleskin pad may be a good option to provide some cushioning, no matter what kind of shoes you’re wearing.

5. Shoe Inserts

Shoe inserts are supposed to position your foot correctly to prevent the bunion from getting worse. They may also alleviate some of the pain and pressure of the bunion.

They will not reverse the damage that’s been done or completely prevent the bunion from developing, but they may be able to reduce your symptoms.

6. Reduce Inflammation

The things that you do to reduce inflammation when you’ve had a muscle injury may also be effective for your bunions. Soak your bunion in warm water with Epsom salts, use ice packs and cooling products, or try ultrasound therapy and massage.

How do You Know When it is Time for Surgery?

The pain and frustration from bunions generally start out mild and progress relatively slowly. There are often spikes in the discomfort when you wear restrictive shoes or have flare-ups of arthritis. 

These variations in your discomfort may cause you to think that it will get better and keep delaying surgery. However, the discomfort from bunions can be very significant. It may affect your life in ways you don’t entirely realize since the symptoms came on so slowly and have been going on for so long.

If you’ve tried some of these at-home remedies and you’re still experiencing discomfort, it is time for you to get a real bunion cure. Surgery will correct the ligaments, muscles, and tendons that are unbalanced and realign the big toe, eliminating the bunion for good.

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For years the debate of which sex reigns supreme in sport has waged on, with most nods, in most sports going to testosterone-fueled males. Men are bigger, men are stronger. Recently this trend is starting to see some upheaval however, with women competing in ultra-distance endurance events.

And it’s interesting news for the people who are trying to ban transgender people from competitive sports events. They should be watching out for women! 

We all know women are tougher than men, women give birth, something no man could handle, women raise curious children, again something most men sneak away each and every day because of, and women have to put up with men, maybe the hardest of tasks on the planet!

All jokes aside, the world of endurance sports is where women level the playing field, and according to a new study by RunRepeat, actually overtake their male counterparts. 

In partnership with the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU), RunRepeat just published the largest study ever done on the sport of ultra running. They’ve analyzed 5,010,730 results from 15,451 ultra running events over the last 23 years, and one of the many key findings, is that at extreme distance, the data shows, that women actually are the top competitor. (See our related story, running in sprints).

Run in sprints – for your heart and perfect body, new research confirms it

The findings detailed in The State of Ultra Running 2020, cover many facets, like the exponential growth of the sport, what nations top ultra running’s performance list, differences in participant demographics, and of course they offer a unique view of the differences between the sexes. 

The key findings of this study point towards various trends that suggest as we start this new decade, more and more people are looking for a challenge, and in those new challenges, women should be seen as equals, both at the start line and at the finish line. What this means for upcoming marathons in cities like Tel Aviv, is anyone’s guess. 

 Some results this study discovered: 

• Female ultra runners are faster than male ultra runners at distances over 195 miles. The longer the distance the shorter the gender pace gap. In 5Ks men run 17.9% faster than women, at marathon distance the difference is just 11.1%, 100-mile races see the difference shrink to just .25%, and above 195 miles, women are actually 0.6% faster than men. 

• Participation has increased by 1676% in the last 23 years from 34,401 to 611,098 yearly participations and 345% in the last 10 years from 137,234 to 611,098. There have never been more ultra runners.

• More ultra runners are competing in multiple events per year. In 1996, only 14% of runners participated in multiple races a year, now 41% of participants run more than one event per year. There is also a significant increase in the % of people who run 2 races a year, 17.2% (from 7.7% to 24.9%) and 3 races, 6.7% (from 2.8% to 9.5%). 

• There have never been more women in ultrarunning. 23% of participants are female, compared to just 14% 23 years ago. 
• All age groups have a similar pace, around 14:40 min/mile. Which is unusual compared to the past and to other distances. 

The data begs us to try to understand what’s going on in this niche part of the endurance world. As more people seek these harder experiences, these sport’s once reserved for elite athletes are now fair game for anyone with some courage and stamina. 

We were especially excited by this story on the New York Times, and the woman who does ultra-ultra marathons, without sleep. By 200 miles at a time she outruns the men.

So the key here women is endurance. If you keep going at some point the men give up. Ask any mother of young children and she won’t bat an eye, for she already knows this basic fact.

Women are competing at greater numbers than ever before, and thanks to many reasons, they are right there at the front of the pack. The Guardian recently published a piece about this as well, citing a few physiological and psychological reasons women have an edge here, but overall it comes down to mental fortitude, something women simply have more of. 

It’s an exciting new decade, and while ultra running may still be on the fringe of what most people aspire to participate in, the continued growth of this niche sector, and of the women within it, proves that endurance sports are here to stay. 

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Stroll around the ruins of Gaza on a late afternoon and you may catch sight of airborne young men, jumping off mountains of rubble and rolling from rooftops. Their extraordinarily athletic running and climbing, swinging and vaulting makes for an urban ballet.  This is parkour and free running and this is the best crew in the Arab world.

The sport of parkour developed in the late 1980s from military obstacle course training wherein practitioners aim to get from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible using only their bodies and surrounding infrastructure for propulsion. Sometimes practiced solo, but more often with others – as much for ensuring safety as for inspiring innovation in new moves. Find out more at parkour for beginners.

Free running involves fluid and unrestricted movement through space, based on the act of running. It’s considered a simpler and more inclusive form of parkour.

In 2005, after Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza, two men created Palestine’s very first parkour crew in the southern city of Khan Younis. The aerial antics of Mohamed Algakhbeer and Abdallah Enshasy quickly attracted new followers and the team steadily grew.  Today there are 18 official members in PK Gaza ranging from age 17 to 25; parkour demands young, agile bodies.

Update: 2023 a video of fails shows the beautiful streets of Gaza before the war started by Hamas

The athletes use parkour as a positive expression of joy and independence in a war-devastated place. Their interaction with their ruined surrounding results in an incongruous beauty. It usually takes place in urban settings, but these guys work it on the beach and in construction sites.

Parkour has also got practical application, providing young men with a rigorous physical workout in neighborhoods where there are no ball fields, soccer pitches, or gymnasiums. Says blogger Moa Dickmark, “They might not have much, but what they do have is the choice to not let anyone take their dreams and goals away. By practicing parkour on a daily basis and doing shows for various audiences, they spread power in a way that no outside organization or person could ever do.”

The group is seeking a dedicated place to safely practice where they can also teach others about the sport and its underlying philosophy.

Parkour is becoming a recognized sport with events involving established teams from around the world. Currently, PK Gaza stages events in Gaza City and smaller communities. They would like an opportunity to leave Gaza to perform with international athletes, learn, and demonstrate what is happening with the sport in their slice of the world. Until they can leave, the world can come to them through the magic of YouTube.

PK Gaza is showing the world that parkour builds more than strong bodies; it brings positive attention to war-ravaged youth and is an accessible agent for change.

Images from Moa Dickmark taken by Yasser Fathi Quidh and Vycheclav Guz

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