Jinga was a minimalist vegan inspired and environmentally friendly shoe made in Brazil that become briefly popular with barefoot/minimalist runners. The shoes were originally meant as a dance or minimalist lifestyle shoe. The company was formed by Kate Nowakowski and Teresa Keohane who met in Brazil. According to the companies Facebook page, they closed down in mid-2012¹, though the website is still live and the shoes still appear to be available in some places.
UPDATE: The website appears to now be selling the shoes again (Nov 2015)
The name ‘Jinga’ is derived from a Brazilian Portuguese word ‘ginga’ that refers to your style or rhythm, like the art of moving that is both personal and individual to you; it is creative, exuberant and graceful.
The shoes weighed 150g each and are extremely flexible. They had a removable 2mm EVA insole with a 4mm thick zero drop TPU sole. The upper was a PU/Polyester.
Commentary:
- several reviewers have commented that they probbaly not the best minimalist shoe to use for a lot of running.
- ¹they appear to have closed down at what was probably just before the peak in the market for minimalist running shoes in 2012. That market declined almost every month for the next 2 years with many companies competing for that smaller marketshare. At the run specialty level, that market probably now makes up 3-5% of running shoe sales.
- at the most recent analysis of search terms used when searching for running shoes, ‘Jinga’ returned a count of 0.
Social Media Links:
External Links:
Jinga Website
Related topics:
Minimalist Running Shoes | Barefoot Running
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