The Akita model from Zeazoo kids has so many options! You can go colorful or neutral, laces or velcro, and the sizes are great for pre-schoolers up through elementary school to cover kids with healthy barefoot shoes options, even (at least sometimes) when uniform shoes are required.
Disclaimer: These shoes were gifted to my youngest quite awhile ago. I would have reviewed them faster, except I vastly oversized them at the time and was slightly in denial about it. My kids have such wide feet that before going to barefoot shoes they would wear a minimum of 3 sizes too big to have enough width, and it took me awhile to break that habit. We’re finally in the right range for him to wear them, though still a touch big, and can tell you all about them. Check out the purchasing section below for places to buy, including some nice discounts.
Sections
Company Information
ZeazooKids is one of the oldest barefoot shoes businesses around, celebrating 10 years in 2021. They use natural materials with strong safety standards and are focused on continuous innovation and optimization to make sure we have the best possible barefoot shoes for different ages and needs.
Technical Specifications
- Upper: natural leather free of formaldehyde and azo dyes
- Midsole: natural leather free of formaldehyde and azo dyes
- Lining: natural leather free of chrome, formaldehyde, and azo dyes.
- Sole: 6 mm light and flat Vibram® Superflex
- Closure: Velcro or Laces (comes with both tie and elasticized)
- Sizes 29-36 EU
Appearance
The Akita model looks like a casual everyday wear shoe for more formal situations for kids such as school, church, or weddings. These are not park and muddy play shoes, nor patent leather formalwear, but the perfect in-between that will help kids dress up but not constantly want to take them off their feet.
The look of them changes based on whether you use the silicon no-tie laces:
The Velcro like we have:
or the tie laces like this:
If you’re already a follower, you know I do outfit pics with every review, with the exception of showing my younger kids’ faces online. I also don’t force them to stand for pics, but do let them walk around and have some fun, and see what comes of it.
These are going to style very nicely with jeans and khakis like this.
Fit
Akita is medium to wide in width on the sole:
But the stitch-down construction brings that in a bit.
They’re also very flexible and have volume, so have some play in how they fit and they are very open at the ankle:
If your kids have a high instep, they’ll work very well, and in fact the higher circumference listing on this model is why I picked it for my youngest. If your kid has super-splayer feet, these may not be the best, but most kids can find a good fit here.
Sizing
Every product page on Zeazookids.com has sizing information under the right tab below the purchase section, and it’s customized to the model.
I. Love. This.
They make their shoes, they know them inside and out, and they give us the real deets for those models – and they go beyond what most other companies do by giving us circumferences too, in addition to recommended and usable inner lengths.
My preferred method is to measure, even though I totally sucked at following my own guidelines for the first year with the kids (nailed my own pretty quick but held on to some shoe trauma for the little ones). If you’re unsure how to do that, check out this page for tips and this page discussing the extra space we should leave inside.
If you don’t want to measure, then you’re in luck with this particular model, which has a printable sizing template at the top of the sizing section (set that baby to black and white if you have a color printer or pay the ink tax!).
Our experience: I cannot get the full usable internal length they include using a plus 12 device, but get closer the max listed on the recommended feet length. This plus the front slope of the upper lends me to recommend that if you’re on the fence, size up.
How do they feel?
The sole is unpadded inside and a smooth leather. It’s also lined in a soft leather like nice adult dress shoes. The layers where the side wrap attaches to the front piece do leave a thick area, but it’s completely smooth and with such a flexible upper, should not bother.
Zeazoo specializes in light and flexible, and that delivers here:
We have previously reviewed both kids and adult shoes, and they are always completely flexible (upper and sole) and comfortable on the feet.
Cleaning and Care
The Akita model is a smooth leather, which is perfect for waterproofing. This does not mean that the entire shoe can handle puddles and a complete soaking, but you can treat the leather with a protectant wax (options on this page, and my favorite is Otter Wax) to give them much more tolerance to rain and stains. It will darken the leather somewhat, but that pales in comparison to what a kid will do to them, so I think you’ll be alright there.
Zeazoo has an extensive care guide here that covers everything from day 1 on, but the short version is to clean with a wet towel or rubber eraser, don’t over-wash them, and do protect them.
Purchasing, Shipping, and Returns
The core place to buy Zeazoo is directly from Zeazookids.com. Their main site has the most options and can offer you additional customization choices, including both laced (which comes with textile and easy-use silicon laces) or velcro versions like we have here, or even requests for a different leather that you’ve seen on the site, but not necessarily for the model. You can save 5% with my affiliate code OWBSHOES.
If you’re in the US or UK, you can buy the laced Black for school or a casual brown from 100barefootsoles and my OWBSHOES code = 10% off their stock.
You can also get worldwide shipment of the black laced pair from Happy Little Soles.
Final Thoughts
The Akita model from Zeazookids is perfect for situations where you need something more than an athletic shoe, and you need it to be comfortable for a lot of wear. I love that they can be bought in fun colors but also that you can meet those church, school, or event needs with perfectly neutral browns and blacks. (They do the same in girls’ shoes, but I have only boys so will never get to enjoy that side of things.)
Want more reviews?
Check out All the Barefoot Shoe Reviews for more in-depth looks.
Want to check out other lists, such as color and type break-downs?
Check out all the BIG lists here.
