Photo by Luis Escobar, 2006 Urique, Copper Canyons
THE SIMPLE SANDAL IS...
perhaps one of the oldest human inventions. Human beings have learned that protecting the bottom of our feet can give us a huge advantage in many environments.
As chronicled in the bestselling book Born to Run, Barefoot Ted tells the story of his meeting with Manuel Luna in 2006 down in the Copper Canyons.
He describes how that event sparked his imagination and has lead LUNA Sandals to where we are today.
In his own words
Barefoot Ted tells the story
The story so far
From one pair of huaraches to Wenatchee
Barefoot Ted
2003
IN 2003, BAREFOOT TED WAS ON A SEEMINGLY SIMPLE MISSION...
to learn how to run pain-free. That simple desire led him down a rabbit-hole of a quest to learn as much as he could about natural running form, the natural selection of footwear, and the evolution of human movement.
On his journey he re-discovered that the human body is not broken by design. We, as humans, have an amazing capacity to move well solely with the equipment we were born with, our own bodies.
As he learned more about the natural selection of footwear in human cultures, he kept finding the simple sandal as the footwear of choice for many cultures past and present.
Tarahumara feet, Mexico
2006
BORN TO RUN
This fascinating quest into the world of movement, running, and simple footwear led him to a man named Caballo Blanco and into the Copper Canyons of Mexico in 2006; the story of which is famously chronicled in Christopher McDougall's best-seller, Born To Run. If you’ve read Born To Run, you are familiar with Ted's story.
Barefoot Ted, Copper Canyons, 2006
2006
HE TRAVELED...
down to the Copper Canyons of Mexico to run a 50 mile ultra-marathon with the legendary Tarahumara natives, and while there, Ted became friends with Manuel Luna.
Manuel made Ted his first pair of traditional tire 'huarache' sandals. The spark for LUNA sandals was born and as they say, the rest is history.
Manuel Luna, 2006
2007
AFTER THE FAMED 2006 COPPER CANYON ULTRA-MARATHON...
Ted began tinkering and experimenting with sandal designs. In 2007 he went back to the Copper Canyon Ultra and ran the race in a pair of huarache sandals that he himself had made. He was hooked, and knew he was onto something that he really wanted to share with the world.
LUNA Garage Shop, the early days
2010
BY EARLY 2010...
BFT was inundated with requests for the simple sandals he had been developing and making in his garage.
In March of 2010 at Volunteer Park in Seattle, he met two young brothers slacklining in the park. As if it was meant to be, Scott and Bookis Smuin knew who Ted was and had already been making and running in tire sandals.
They quickly became friends, the stars aligned, and a business plan for LUNA Sandals was born.
Seattle, 2017. American Made Outdoor Gear Award
2010 to 2021
From 2010 to 2021...
We called Seattle our home developing, learning, struggling, and growing the business of LUNA Sandals.
The Wenatchee floor, 2021
Today
FAST-FORWARD TO TODAY...
Now located in a beautiful new space in Wenatchee, WA in Eastern Cascades, LUNA's team, products, and processes have grown and evolved immensely.
Ted and Liv are running the show along with an amazingly talented small team of people!
Who runs this
Meet LUNA's leaders
We are a founder led company, born from true self experimenters trying to solve a problem of their own. We live and breathe our product and the company culture we want to create. We are intentional about how we want to be in the world, and we do our best to reflect our values in our business.
Left to right: Barefoot Ted, Liv McDonald, Scott Smuin.
Barefoot Ted McDonald a.k.a BFT a.k.a El Mono Hablador
Founder and President
The dreamer, the founder, the trouble maker, the ultimate self experimenter. In 2003 Ted set out to solve one problem, how to run without pain, and followed it into natural running form, the natural selection of footwear, and the evolution of human movement. In 2006 the search took him into the Copper Canyons, where Manuel Luna cut him his first pair of huaraches from a worn tire. A year later he went back and ran the ultra in a pair he had made himself.
Liv McDonald
CEO
Istanbul born and raised. In 2012 Liv met Ted on a six day ultra marathon along the Lycian Way, which is either a very long first date or a very thorough compatibility test, and the rest is history. She runs the show now, with an amazing team around her. Her days go wherever the company needs them: a distributor on the other side of the world, marketing, the finances, strategy, a new sandal on the bench. Rarely in that order, and often all before lunch.
Scott Smuin
Co-founder and Director of Operations
In it since the Model T garage days. Ted met Scott and his brother Bookis slacklining in Volunteer Park in 2010, already making and running in tire sandals of their own, and the stars aligned. Scott is the manufacturing wizard, the one who gets a sandal from an idea to something the factory can actually make, and an avid adventurer who lives and breathes LUNA. The other hats he wears are uncountable.
