Why should shoes have enough room for toes?
And what does "enough" mean?

Modern narrow shoes have become so common that we don't even notice any discomfort. But statistics are ruthless: more than 90% of children are born with healthy feet. And already ⅔ of adults have some kind of deformity. Why is that?

In a healthy state, the toes are at a distance from each other and move freely.
Look at the wide foot of a baby - this is exactly how nature intended it. Why? So that we have a good area of contact with the surface. And so that the body weight is evenly distributed over the entire foot when walking.
But as soon as we squeeze the foot with shoes, the toes gather in a "triangle", a significant part of the load from the big toe and pads is transferred to the joints. By the way, not only the feet, but also the knees. At first, this can manifest itself as fatigue ("the legs are buzzing"), and later as pain and deformities.

On the video above (credits to @vivobarefoot) you can see how wearing narrow shoes changes the shape of the foot over time. And with it, the biomechanics of movement, balance and coordination are disrupted. To understand how our feet "feel", just imagine that you have to walk with clenched fists all day. Uncomfortable, right? And our toes sometimes "live" in such conditions all day 😳

Barefoot shoes are great because they have a wide toe box. And enough space for each toe to move freely.
By the way, toes in shoes should not just not stick together. It is correct when you can easily spread them "fan-like", and there is a small distance between the big toe and the toe of the shoe. Do you want to know why this is important?