Vivobarefoot is a family business. Standing at the helm when it comes to keeping Kids' feet moving with natural barefoot freedom, you'll find Bayarma Clark. Mother of two girls, Yeva and Coco, and wife to VIVO founder, Galahad Clark, Bayarma is dedicated to keeping Kids' feet healthy and advocating the importance of unstructured play and wild adventures.
Bayarma caught up with our friends at Babycchino to give some insight into how she entwines motherhood, work and living the barefoot life!
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you live and about your family.
Originally from Siberia, I studied in Moscow and then moved to Geneva. After that, I moved to England where I got married and where we now live. My husband Galahad is a 6th-generation cobbler from Somerset. I soon realised shoes – or rather, not wearing shoes – was going to be a huge part of our lives. We now have two daughters, 7 and 5 years old, who also spend a lot of time not wearing shoes!
2. Tell us a little bit about how your brand came to be and how you became involved.
Galahad founded Vivobarefoot five years ago and while I had my own career at the time, I loved what he was doing. He was building a company that was so different, using sustainable materials and studying how the body works and grows. Inevitably, I started helping out, but it was when I became a mother that I realised my old job just wasn’t fulfilling. I wanted my work to be something I truly valued, and I am passionate about developing Vivobarefoot Kids.
3. Barefoot shoes have a specific design philosophy behind them. Tell us more.
Our shoes are designed based on the belief that not wearing shoes is what’s best for us, and definitely for our kids. Our feet have as many neuro-transmitters as our hands do, so the more sensory messages growing brains get from feet, the better. It’s also better for kids’ bodies! The tiny bones and tendons in our feet and ankles don’t finish growing until our late teens. It’s super important our kids’ feet have the space to grow strong and flexible through these years. This is why Vivobarefoot Kids shoes are thin, wide and flexible. They allow kids’ feet to feel, as well as growing up to be strong and flexible for coordinated, skilful movement. Science backs this up; recently the University of Bournemouth did a large, ten-year study that showed how kids’ behaviour and academic achievement improved in classrooms where they wear no shoes.
4. What does barefoot mean to you?
Barefoot is a lot more than the physical benefits of not wearing traditional shoes. I’m also passionate about what being barefoot whenever possible means – for grown-ups and kids. For me, it is allowing our children to roam free in nature as much as possible. Sometimes it is hard to do this! We live just outside London and I know how hard it is to keep kids connected to the natural world around them. It is something we focus on as a family in many different ways. From keeping chickens in our garden and doing martial arts, to attending a Forest School and spending as much time outdoors as possible in Somerset where Galahad is from… I am incredibly grateful we are able to raise our children to be as barefoot as possible and, yes, this means they’re also pretty wild!
5. What do you love most about your job?
I’m passionate about my work, I truly believe in what we’re doing and love that it’s a family business we are all involved in. Every day is different, and I can be involved in anything from design meetings with our team of shoe designers, to planning web changes to helping out on photoshoots (where the kids do tend to get pretty wild!). I love the different people I get to meet and learn from. I take my work home with me, for sure, my children are totally aware of what we’re doing – but especially as a mother to daughters I’m glad they see how hard their mum works!
