Icarus Footwear Review: Minimalist Sneakers for the Gym and Casual Wear 

Icarus Footwear is a beginner-friendly minimalist shoe brand that recently launched a versatile wide toe box sneaker meant for both the gym and casual wear. With three sets of insoles included, they’re designed to help you transition from conventional shoes to a barefoot style.

I’m excited that I get to share yet another barefoot shoe brand that recently launched. Hopefully this is a sign of more good things to come with barefoot shoes catching more mainstream attention! 

Icarus Footwear is a new minimalist shoe company from the United States. They recently released their first shoe at the end of 2022, a men’s white leather sneaker made for both casual wear and the gym. Women’s sizing is in the works, so stay tuned if you need smaller sizes.  
 
Icarus Footwear’s first shoe, the Ascent, is a good transitional option for someone that isn’t yet comfortable with super thin soles; these sneakers have a 5 mm outsole, plus three different insoles to choose from according to your comfort level. 

In this Icarus Footwear review, I’ll cover materials and design, performance, fit and sizing, plus a coupon code to get 10% off. These shoes were reviewed by both Aaron and me as we were able to test out both the men’s and women’s versions.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you click on one of them and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. For more information, read our full disclosure. 

I. Icarus Footwear Brand Overview  

The founder of Icarus wanted a healthier alternative to the popular shoes like Adidas Sambas or Converse he saw everyone wearing both casually and for lifting at the gym. He didn’t find quite what he was looking for, so he decided to design his own. 

Leather Upper | Sizes US M4.5/W6 – M14/W15.5 | stack height varies from 5 mm with no insole to 16 mm with thickest insole 

$144 | Code KELLY10 for 10% off | Free Shipping & Returns 

II. Materials & Design  

This first shoe from Icarus Footwear has a clean-looking design without looking over-simplified or boring. A major gripe for many people that have switched to barefoot shoes is the lack of style and choice, and this brand is delivering mainstream aesthetics combined with a healthy design.  

a. Uppers 

Uppers are full grain leather. They come in both white with white soles and black with gum soles. These were made to work as both an everyday shoe and a lifting shoe at the gym, so there are perforations in the leather on the side for better breathability. The lower portion of the tongue is made of mesh.  

These feel and look well-made with a high-quality leather. The shoes are made in China.  

The only design issue we noted is that the laces do sometimes catch on the tongue where the leather is sewn into the mesh.  

b. Sole

The outsole is 5mm thick and made from rubber. It has a herringbone tread pattern for maximum traction. While wearing them, Aaron found them to have good grip on smooth indoor floors like wood and cement. 

The sole is glued, pressed, and then stitched to the uppers. It feels securely attached and well-made. 

It has good flexibility for the thickness. The shoe is easily rolled into a ball and twisted from side to side, and while wearing them it doesn’t feel like anything is inhibiting natural movement.

c. Insoles 

One of the unique features of the Icarus shoes is that they come with three different insoles:

• 3mm insole
• 4mm insole
• a conventional insole that goes from 4mm at the toes to 9mm at the heel creating a heel drop of 5mm.

With the first two insoles, the shoes are zero drop and offer a moderate amount of cushion.  While there isn’t that much difference between the two, Aaron found the 4mm most comfortable, leading to a total stack height of 9mm. These make the Ascent sneakers a great option for someone that is new to barefoot shoes, or someone that simply prefers a bit more cushion. 

The last insole is meant to help those that are not yet comfortable in a zero-drop shoe. With the multiple insoles, you can wear the zero-drop ones as long as you’re comfortable, and switch back to the conventional one with the 5mm heel drop when you need to. Having that option is nice if you need it, but Aaron felt like the extra cushioning in the heel was a bit much with this insole and made the back of the shoe almost feel too shallow. Because of this, he could feel his heel slip against the back a bit. The overall shoe felt better suited to the zero-drop insoles. 

III. Performance 

Aaron has worn these for long walks outside and doing workouts indoors. They’ve been comfortable to wear, and like I mentioned above, had plenty of grip on smooth indoor floors. As a full leather shoe, they are warmer than a mesh tennis shoe, so they probably wouldn’t be a go-to for more aerobic type workouts.  

IV. Fit & Sizing  

The Icarus Ascent sneakers have a bean shape that fit a fairly wide or curved toe splay.  If you don’t have that wide of a toe splay, you may notice some extra room in the toe box. Aaron tested these shoes, and as he doesn’t have a very wide toe splay, he noticed the space on the outside of the big toe, but it wasn’t bothersome.  

These are currently only available in both men’s and women’s sizing, with a range of M4.5/W6 – M14/W15.5

These were Aaron’s sizing comments when the GEN 1 originally came out at the end of 2022:

Aaron has a 26.8cm foot measurement and most often wears shoes that are US10.5/EU44. These shoes run slightly big, so if you typically wear a half size, I would size down.  

For a 26.8cm foot measurement, the size US10/EU43 fit the best. Aaron tried the size US 11/EU44 for comparison and these clearly felt too big.  

These fit medium width Aaron has higher volume feet, and found these to have enough room with both the 3mm or 4mm insole. 

Since then, the sizing has been adjusted to be more true-to-size for the GEN 2. With that, I would recommend getting your usual size.

Overall, these fit medium to wide feet best.

See tips on how to measure your feet for barefoot shoes here.

Icarus Footwear Size Chart 

Check the Icarus website for the most up-to-date size chart.

 V. Pricing  

The Ascent sneakers are available on the Icarus Footwear website for $145. You can use code KELLY10 for 10% off, which brings them to under $130. 

a. Shipping & Returns Policy  

Icarus offers free shipping and free returns. They go beyond a free return and offer a forever guarantee with no time limit, stating that “for whatever reason, you are not fully satisfied with this shoe, just send them back for an exchange or a full refund.” That is an incredibly generous policy, but I would note that this is a brand-new company, and therefore they longevity of the company is yet to be seen (while I wish them the absolute best), and acknowledge that they may not be able to afford this policy in perpetuity.  

VI. Conclusion  

Icarus Footwear delivers on its goal of making a high-quality, versatile, healthy sneaker. I appreciate it that it offers moderate cushion as it helps those transitioning to barefoot shoes, or presents another option for those that do want most of the features of a barefoot shoe, but are simply comfortable with more cushion.

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