Softstar Camino – Comfort Sandals for the Barefoot Shoe Wearer

The Softstar Camino is a barefoot sandal with plenty of space for your toes, a soft cushioned insole and a flexible but grippy outsole. Like the Birkenstock Arizona, but without the rigid arch support!

I prefer the Softstar Camino sandal over the Birkenstock Arizona that I religiously wore for 15 years because I now prioritize my foot strength. Simply walking around in minimalist shoes has been shown to strengthen feet! So I’m glad to have a barefoot alternative to this trending comfort sandal. Here is my review so you can shop with more success.

Softstar Camino Review

Leather & Suede | Sizes US 5.5W – 14M | Ships from US

The Camino is not your typical barefoot sandal because it has a moderate amount of cushion in the insole and a thicker rubber outsole – but it’s still flat and flexible.

The leather straps are also quite thick and durable, and overall this should make for a long-lasting and highly functional sandal – one of the reasons people consider Birkenstocks to be a good investment.

Softstar shoes are all sustainably made by hand in a workshop in Philomath, Oregon. So in addition to that attention to detail in the materials and quality, the entire company is built on ethical ideals.

And of course I love that the Caminos have the back strap! This makes for a better fit than slide on shoes because you don’t need to grip your toes to keep the shoe on.

I personally prefer to undo that back buckle every time because of how close I have all the strap settings, but many people with higher volume feet (including Samantha) will be able to slide it on and off without having to undo it.

Sizing & Fit

Our team got two pairs of Caminos, one for myself in Carob color size 5u (women’s 6) and one for Samantha in Hydra size 6u (Women’s 7). We are one size apart, so I had the opportunity to try them both on and honestly it took me a while to determine which one I liked better!

I fiddled with the straps on both and kept finding that I needed to tighten them more to keep my low volume foot secure. I also was thrown off by how stiff the straps were at first, I wanted them looser for comfort but I needed them tight for security! For the first few wears I was convinced that I preferred the larger size and almost commandeered Samantha’s Caminos from her.

This is partly because there is a line of stitching around the insole where the cushion drops off and it felt a little funny for my toes to be past that line. But then the straps and the suede footbed started molding to my foot and the size 5u has ended up being perfect and 6u too large. I normally wear a women’s 6-6.5 in sandals (a size 6 in Birkenstock sandals), so this was pretty much spot on.

I’ve since worn my size 5u Caminos for hours at a time in comfort, but I might have to add additional buckle holes if the leather stretches out more.

I have really low volume feet and would say this type of sandal works best on people with medium to high volume feet. Samantha has a high volume foot and didn’t have as much trouble finding her optimal fit.

Note that the Hydra color is backordered and should be back in stock mid June.

Are They Wide Foot Friendly?

One of the big questions in the barefoot shoe community when a new shoe comes out is always “how wide are they?”. And for that we call in our resident extra wide footed friend Samantha! After I relinquished Samantha’s pair of Caminos back to her and she FINALLY got to try them on the verdict is that they are definitely wide and will work for many extra wide feet.

But remember that seam on the insole I mentioned earlier? Samantha’s toes hang off that seam and go all the way to the straps. So it’s not ideal on her toes, but they are also not terribly squished since she keeps the front strap a little looser for more space.

I myself have a wide foot compared to most people and find them to be plenty wide, so it’s really only in extra wide territory where you might be uncomfortable. If by contrast if you have a slim foot then these might be overall too wide.

Shoe Care

The Softstar Camino’s are still only a couple of months old for me, but my experience with leather indicates that these should age well with only a little care.

If they get wet the soles might become rough (I’ve had this happen with a few of my suede insole shoes), but a good suede brush and leather balm can re-hydrate and soften it.

Besides the occasional leather care, you should get lots of use out of these great Softstar Camino sandals!

Want to explore more barefoot sandal options? Check out all our reviewed sandals here.