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Wherever she's taking him, it's not the shoe store.

"I hate bullfights! I never eat beef! I'm a vegetarian! I don't even wear shoes!"

Funny Animals have differing levels of clothing, sometimes even between different characters in the same work. You've got your Accessory Wearing Cartoon Animals, who are basically naked except for one or two token items. There are also Half Dressed Cartoon Animals, who wear a shirt or pants, but not both. There are even Fully Dressed Cartoon Animals who have complete outfits. And then there's the subject of this article — cartoon animals who are almost fully clothed by human standards, but who go barefoot (or bare-pawed, if you want to get technical). These are furry characters who don't just remove their footwear for specific occasions (like sleeping or swimming), but go barefoot all the time, even during activities where humans would normally wear shoes — walking around town, working, shopping, going on adventures, etc.

As the sheer number of examples demonstrates, this is a common trope in works featuring funny animals. Here are some possible reasons:

  • The trope may be Justified by the characters having hooves, large claws, or oddly-shaped hind paws which it would be difficult for shoes to accommodate.
  • The trope may also be Justified by the characters being from a culture where shoes aren't seen as a social requirement, such as with J. R. R. Tolkien's hobbits, or are from a civilization that Does Not Like Shoes.
  • There's another possible explanation for this, more or less based in Rule of Perception: Generally, anthropomorphic animals (especially of the Beast Man variety) have essentially human anatomy except for their heads, tails, and (in most cases) feet, so keeping all three of those elements exposed emphasizes their animal qualities and prevents them from appearing too human. (It's not unreasonable to think, for example, that long pants made for anthropomorphic animals would have long sleeves to accommodate their tails as well, but strangely, almost nobody ever depicts such a thing.)
  • Shoes can be deceptively complex to draw and people often don't pay much attention to them anyway. This is especially true for modern tennis shoes, which usually have multiple colors, complex textures, and logos. In many art styles, paws are actually far less complicated to draw. See Furries Are Easier to Draw.

Spats without shoes or socks count as this trope because they do not cover the soles of the feet. These may also indicate that the funny animal who wears them is particularly wealthy.

The One Who Wears Shoes is about inversions of this trope, especially Civilized Animals and Funny Animals who use footwear when going barefoot is normal for the setting.

Barefoot cartoon animals are usually of the Funny Animal or Beast Man tier, but any tier of the Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism can apply.

A lot of Accessory Wearing Cartoon Animals and Half Dressed Cartoon Animals also happen to be barefoot; to keep things cleaner, this page only covers barefoot characters who are otherwise properly-dressed.

This trope also applies to any non-human character, such as aliens and monsters.

Most of these characters have Humanlike Foot Anatomy.

Subtrope of Appropriate Animal Attire.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • In 1963, A&W Restaurants introduced Rooty the Great Root Bear, a mascot who wore only an orange sweater. 60 years later, they added a pair of jeans to his outfit, but no shoes.
  • The Boubin Bear for Boubin Automotive Service. His wardrobe includes a hat, vest, and jeans, but no shoes (or shirt). He holds his jeans up and tips his hat while saying "It's the bear facts, folks!"
  • The live-action chimp office workers from the mid 2000s CareerBuilder.com commercial package were dressed in business wear with the absence of shoes.
  • Peter Panda, the cartoon panda mascot of the classic Child World toy store would often go back and forth between wearing shoes and not wearing them, but is otherwise fully clothed in a striped T-Shirt and overalls with his name on them.
  • Coco the Monkey from Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies cereal sports a t-shirt, blue jeans and a blue baseball cap, but no shoes.
  • Chip the Wolf from Cookie Crisp cereal initially had a red jacket and blue slacks, but no shoes.
  • Dannon's Danimals yogurt ads:
    • Anook the polar bear has a light blue and white snowboarder outfit and goggles, but no snow boots.
    • Hollywood the alligator sports a blue and green t-shirt, dark blue board shorts and a pair of sunglasses, but no shoes.
  • During a short time in the mid-to-late '80s, Purina Fit & Trim dog food featured a cartoon basset hound in exercise clothes, barefoot jogging in place.
  • Fruit Brute the werewolf wears a white t-shirt and rainbow overalls, but no shoes.
  • Birdie the Early Bird, one of the McDonaldland characters, wears overalls and goggles, but no shoes. Justified Trope since footwear would just get in the way of her using her talons.
  • Bil Mar Farms' Mr. Turkey, from the self-titled line of turkey products, was known for being "The best dressed turkey in town." He wore a tuxedo and top hat, but no shoes..
  • Nesquik Bunny was originally an Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal but, even in costume, he was barefoot. A later version of him became a Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal.
  • Mo the Bovine from MooTown Snacks wears a t-shirt and shorts without any shoes.
  • Dammy, beaver mascot for Ontario Power Generation, wears a red plaid shirt, blue jeans and a green vest.
  • Unilever's Heartbrand line of assorted ice cream bars features as one of its mascots a barefoot toon lion named Max (aka The Paddle Pop Lion), who initially wore a safari shirt and khaki shorts. Max has made appearances on the Miko Motta Max brand ice cream in France as well as the Streets Paddle Pop brand in Australia and New Zealand.
  • The original Racin' Rat from the self-titled Tyco RC toy car line did not wear shoes in his first animated commercial.
  • Ozzie, an anthro feline mascot and disc jockey, from the network Radio AAHS, wore typical '90s clothes, complete with a backwards cap and baggy pants, but no shoes.
  • Of the members of the Otter Pops, Anita Fruit Punch wears a rash guard top, beach shorts, and a sun visor, but no shoes.
  • Although he usually didn't have a costume, Sambo's Restaurant mascot The Tiger was featured in a sports coat and light color trousers, but no shoes. on some of their Tiger Club spots.
  • Animated ads for the COPD medication Symbicort have the Big Bad Wolf living in a world of anthro wolves who do not wear shoes but are otherwise fully dressed.
  • The current design of Teddy, the teddy bear mascot for Nabisco's Teddy Grahams snack products. Teddy has for his new outfit a blue and white striped T-shirt with blue jeans, but no shoes.
  • Sometimes, the Trix Rabbit's disguise will include a full set of clothes, but no shoes.
  • Der Wienerdog, a former dachshund mascot for Wienerschnitzel, had a splashy red-and-yellow outfit with striped pants and a cape, but no shoes.
  • Local Cleveland radio station WMMS-FM has a vulture mascot that wears a t-shirt and blue jeans without shoes. He is known only as The Buzzard.
  • The Silentnight Beds Hippo wears blue and white striped pajamas without shoes.
  • Inflammation, the Anthropomorphic Personification of "dry eye" and other causes of ocular irritation in ads for Xiidra eye drops. He's an Ugly Cute imp-like creature who wears a Fun T-Shirt with his name on it, a vest, and pants without shoes.

    Anime & Manga 
  • Natori, an anthropomorphic feline adviser from Studio Ghibli's The Cat Returns, wears a long purple coat that extends to his lower hind legs (thus covering his entire torso), with no footwear below.
  • Taomon and Doumon from Digimon Tamers, fox people in the Renamon line, are both fully clothed in onmyōji getup, except for the paws.
  • Freeza, one of the Big Bads of Dragon Ball, and his father King Cold are two alien examples. They wear sci-fi battle uniforms, but no shoes like the other characters. Of course, their feet wouldn't really fit into most shoes.
  • Many characters from Fairy Tail belonging to the feline Exceed race go barefoot despite otherwise wearing full outfits, notably Carla (until the Edolas Arc, where she started wearing either shoes or pantyhose on a more consistent basis) and Queen Shagotte. There are some exceptions though, such as Panther Lily (who tends to be a Walking Shirtless Scene), Lector (who wears a vest but no pants), and Happy (who is usually an Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal, but occasionally wears full outfits).
  • Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics normally employed Talking Animals, but The Marriage of Mrs. Fox featured a whole town of anthropomorphic foxes (and one cat) that were fully clothed, except for a lack of shoes.

    Asian Animation 
  • Most of the characters in Our Friend Xiong Xiao Mi, including the five main characters, are anthropomorphic animals who do not wear shoes.
  • Almost none of the anthropomorphic animal characters in Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf wear shoes, with the exception of the goats themselves.

    Comic Books 
  • In American Born Chinese, The Monkey King is prevented from entering the celestial dinner party because he wears no shoes, whereupon he strives to make himself more human-like in his dress and appearance. It's notable that many of the other animals who were let in, like dragons and fish, actually wear worse shoes.
  • Sam Simeon, the gorilla gumshoe of Angel and the Ape fame, usually appears shoeless in a suit and tie.
  • Gary Hampton, the main protagonist of The Astounding Wolf-Man, wears a combat suit with open-toed foot coverings while in his werewolf form.
  • Although the titular heroes of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! wear full superhero uniforms, some of the background characters are either barefoot (but otherwise completely clothed) or half-dressed.
  • The Croconoids from the first Clem Hetherington book. They're fully-dressed except for their lack of shoes.
  • The anthro characters in Extinctioners usually go barefoot despite being fully-clothed otherwise. While the heroes originally had regular boots as part of their uniforms, in later designs they switch to toeless boots a la the cast of Naruto.
  • Some characters from Fritz the Cat wear clothes without shoes. Fritz himself is a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal.
  • Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy and its various adaptations. His default outfit is a space adventurer suit that leaves his hindpaws exposed.
  • Howard the Duck was originally a Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal, but when Disney complained about his (alleged) resemblance to Donald Duck, he was given pants (but not shoes).
  • Honey Bunny of Looney Tunes comic books, the precursor to Lola Bunny. Like her successor, she's a barefooter but otherwise fully clothed.
  • Sylvester Shyster from the Mickey Mouse comics has appeared with a long overcoat, crooked top hat and spats on his feet. More recent incarnations of the character have appeared fully clothed with shoes.
  • The cast of Omaha the Cat Dancer are fully clothed but barefoot. However, their feet appear atypically human for anthro animals, looking less like paws than three-toed human feet.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics):
    • Several characters go barefoot, including a fair portion of the main cast (Rotor, Bunnie pre-and-post-roboticization, Dulcy, Nicole when in furry form, even Tails when he was very little) and a great deal of minor and background characters (Rosemary Prower, the alien Ceneca-9009). Official, straight-from-the-game characters generally end up as the ones who wear shoes in all cases, albeit not the only ones.
    • After the second Genesis Wave that began Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Collide effectively rebooted the universe, everyone who had previously regularly gone barefoot now regularly wears shoes, including Rotor, Nicole and Bunnie (who regained her robotic limbs, but whose robotic feet now look more like white, pink-striped boots). However, another barefooter, a Fish Person named Coral the Betta, was introduced later on, in issue #260, as part of a Sonic Unleashed adaptation.
  • Spider-Man villain The Lizard, the Superpowered Evil Side of scientist Curt Connors. The Lizard's usual outfit consists of a tattered lab coat, a black shirt, purple pants, and bare feet.
  • In The Spiffy Adventures of McConey, Lapinot has long rabbit paws and does not wear shoes, unlike the other characters.
  • The entire cast of Sunnyville Stories; nobody wears shoes, but they do wear clothing.
  • Gill Girl from the 2003 Teen Titans Go! comic wears only a bathing suit. Hardly surprising, considering that she's a Fish Person with webbed feet.
  • The anthropomorphic animals of Tooth and Claw don't wear shoes, even though some have human-like feet.

    Comic Strips 
  • P.T. Bridgeport, the fast-talking show-bear of the classic Pogo series, eventually became this during the latter half of his tenure. He started out with a partial barker's outfit consisted of a hat, a coat, necktie, white gloves, and spats, but no shoes. A wardrobe upgrade in later years included a shirt, a splashy vest and some trousers. He still wore his spats barefoot in the comics and other published works. Also applicable to this trope are feline hillbillies Wiley Catt and Simple J. Malarkey. Barnstable Bear (who usually just wears pants and a checkered cap) had a few seasonal outfits that fit this trope as well.

    Fan Works 
  • This becomes a Discussed Trope in the Crossover fanfic Basil's American Tail, which brings together The Great Mouse Detective and An American Tail. Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal Basil of Baker Street reviews one of the cultural differences between British and American mice with his new friend, Nellie Brie:
    Basil: I don't know what it is with you Americans and your aversion to shoes.
    Nellie: Oh don't be such a snob. Besides, shoes are for humans.
    Basil: I'll have you know that every good detective needs a nice pair of shoes if they want to make their footprints less identifiable.
    • Later, Basil finds himself forced to admit to Nellie that "being in our natural barefoot state does have its advantages when you're climbing about."
      • The trope is also mentioned in the sequel, Olivia Goes West:
        "[Olivia] had trouble walking down the road barefoot, being pained by little pebbles. She didn't know how Fievel did it."

    Films — Animation 
  • The Big Bad Wolf from Hoodwinked!, of which he initially wore just a blue hoodie in the first movie, added a pair of pants to his wardrobe for the sequel. He still goes barefoot though.
  • Most of the supporting animal characters in the Kung Fu Panda franchise are barefooters. The panda villagers in Kung Fu Panda 3 are particularly notable, as they make the main character Po just about the only panda who does wear shoes.
  • Stitch from Lilo & Stitch was first seen wearing an orange jumpsuit while he is in "alien mode" and is otherwise barefoot. Other alien characters such as Dr. Jumba Jookiba, the Grand Councilwoman, and Gantu wear full outfits except for footwear, as their abnormal foot anatomy probably wouldn't allow for it anyway.
  • Lola Bunny and Speedy Gonzales in Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run. Lola wears a blue knee-length dress with gold highlights. Speedy wears his usual white outfit, described in his own entry. Neither of them wear shoes.
  • A few incarnations of the Wolf Man have appeared fully clothed yet barefoot in some animated movies such as Mad Monster Party?, Monster Mash and Hotel Transylvania.
  • J. Worthington Foulfellow and Gideon from Pinocchio are mostly fully-dressed, but they don't wear shoes (although their outfits include spats).
  • Some of the mouse characters from The Rescuers are fully clothed except for shoes, though the leads are Half Dressed Cartoon Animals. Bernard first appears as one, wearing a red sweater, a red cap, and blue overalls rather like Mario.
  • Some of the cast from Robin Hood (1973), including Lady Kluck, Alan-a-Dale, the churchmice, and the rabbit family, wear medieval outfits that don't include footwear. For everyone except Kluck, this trope probably overlaps with Barefoot Poverty.
  • The anthro characters in Rock Dog wear clothes, and many of them are fully dressed. However, there are several barefooters in the cast, including Bodi, Khampa, Angus, The Grizzly, and the sheep villagers. This might be because they're all from a rural environment except The Grizzly, who is basically a Mixed Martial Arts fighter.
  • Most of the rats from The Secret of NIMH wear medieval outfits without footwear, although their elderly leader Nicodemus is The One Who Wears Shoes. The other animal characters are either half-dressed or fully naked.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Lola Bunny from Space Jam wears more clothing than most Looney Tunes animals (either her street clothes or a Tune Squad uniform), but she's still a barefooter. The other furry characters who wear Tune Squad uniforms don't bother with footwear either. This is lampshaded when Michael Jordan asks if the toons have a pair of basketball shoes he could borrow —- cut to a few shots of the toons' feet. The furry Looney Tunes continue this tradition in Space Jam: A New Legacy.
  • Some of the aliens from the Star Wars films go barefoot, notably Yoda and Jar Jar Binks.

    Literature 
  • Some of the mice from the original Angelina Ballerina book series and the first cartoon series.
  • The animal characters from The Bad Guys series of books. The main protagonists (Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Snake and Mr. Shark) all wear black suits, including trousers, but no shoes.
  • The cast of the Basil of Baker Street series, in stark contrast with its Animated Adaptation The Great Mouse Detective.
  • Bendemolena and her feline siblings from the storybook The Cat Who Wore a Pot On Her Head.
  • Corduroy (from the book of the same name) was a stuffed teddy bear who wore green corduroy overalls.
  • The Feas, the vaguely cat-like aliens from the Destined to Lead series.
  • Frog and Toad from the respective book series.
  • In the Geronimo Stilton series and most of its Spin Offsnote , most of the characters are barefoot but otherwise clothed, with a few characters (most notably Pinky Pick) being The One Who Wears Shoes. Subverted in the books starring the Thea Sisters; they and their supporting cast start out barefoot like everyone else, but come to be portrayed as Fully Dressed Cartoon Animals later in the series.
  • Mitcho (a cat) and Sebastian (an elephant) from the Danish children's book The Giant Pear and its Animated Adaptation.
  • Richie, the fox pup, from Hilda and Richie is not shown wearing shoes, though he wears a shirt and pants.
  • Civilized Animal Mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie wears a set of blue-green overalls without shoes.
  • The cast of Joe Carrot, the self-titled Italian book series about a rabbit private detective.
  • Speaking of, Kenny Rabbit from the fantasy adventure Kenny And The Dragon also applies here with his plaid flannel shirt and green shorts.
  • The Berenstain Bears are generally seen shoeless. Professor Actual Factual actually wears spats on his feet.
  • Most characters from Mercer Mayer's Little Critter and Critters of the Night series of books, though averted completely in LC and the Critter Kids.
  • The cast of Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama books and their Animated Adaptation. The title character's signature look includes a set of overalls.
  • In The Mouse Watch, the default for the mouse and rat characters is that they wear full outfits that don't include shoes.
  • Paddington Bear starts out wearing an oversized hat a big blue overcoat in the original books and their film and television adaptations, but still has bear feet. That is, until he gets a pair of wellington boots for Christmas in Paddington Marches On, which quickly became part of his Iconic Outfit because they allowed the soft toys to stand upright.
  • Mr. Tod, the dapper fox from the classic Peter Rabbit book series.
  • Little Pookie, a piglet in overalls, from the Pookie Books series by Sandra Boynton.
  • The Foxen from The Red Vixen Adventures.
  • Richard Scarry's works, with the one exception of Lowly the Worm, the one character who has no feet.
  • The anthro mouse characters from Sandy Clifford's The Roquefort Gang, adapted into an episode of the 1980s series CBS Storybreak.
  • Most of the animal characters created by Rosemary Wells.
  • Sheila Rae, the Brave: All of the characters are mice or rats, and none of them wear shoes despite being otherwise fully-dressed.
  • Who Wet My Pants: Reuben, Bigfoot, the dog, and the hippo all wear scout outfits without shoes.

    Live-Action TV 

    Pinball 
  • Mousin' Around!: Every mouse seen in the game's artwork wears a shirt, pants, and at least one accessory - but no shoes.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Being based on 80s Heroic Fantasy novels and cartoons, the Wilderkind of The Chronicles of Aeres are always depicted going about barefooted in the artwork, and it's even noted in the setting's lore that they prefer to not use shoes, thanks to their paw-like feet.
  • Crimestrikers is set on Creaturia, a World of Anthropomorphic Animals where going barefoot while otherwise clothed is the norm. The only exceptions are the villains who wear Powered Armor (Forster Burns) or full body disguises (Commander Ahab, The Righteous One), and the robots.

    Theatre 

    Video Games 
  • Most of the animal villagers from the Animal Crossing series that aren't Half Dressed Cartoon Animals tend to wear outfits that don't include footwear (with some exceptions, such as Flick, Harvey, Isabelle (as of New Horizons), and Digby). One wonders how Kicks the Skunk (an NPC who sells shoes) makes a living when his only potential customers are the players and the aforementioned exceptions.
  • Several anthro characters from Awesomenauts wear outfits that lack shoes, including Penny Foxnote , Froggy G, Dizzy (though she does wear spats), and Rocco.
  • Most of the animal denizens of Bound by Blades forgoes shoes. Of the three playable heroes, Teo the feline swordsman and Guren the rabbit archer are shoeless and can obtain footwear later in the game, but Kota the bovine brawler wears boots by default.
  • Code Name: S.T.E.A.M mostly stars humans, but has one Funny Animal with Lion; while he's wearing some sort of metal anklets, he doesn't wear shoes, presumably because his feet are digitigrade (his heels don't lie on the ground).
  • Boki, the player character from Copy Kitty, doesn't wear shoes. Crystal-encased feet are almost shoes, but that's just natural Kitera anatomy.
  • The beast races in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, the Khajiit and the Argonians, are unable to wear shoes because their feet are bigger and differently shaped. This also extends to helmets; they can't wear anything that covers their whole face. It then got subverted in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, where they are able to do just that.
    • The reason is that Bethesda, wanting the beast races to be more exotic, gave them digitigrade feet (along with turning the Khajiit from the Ohmes found in Arena-Daggerfall to the Suthay-raht in Morrowind) as opposed to the plantigrade feet they would later receive in Oblivion and Skyrim.
  • The titular hero of Fin and the Ancient Mystery is an anthropomorphic fennec fox who doesn't wear any shoes, just a black kimono and red belt.
  • Milla Basset from Freedom Planet is the the only (known) cast member to go barefoot; her description in this art of her notes "she has a strong connection to the earth" alongside her distaste for shoes, implying her to be an Earthy Barefoot Character. Considering this is from a cast full of Fully Dressed Cartoon Animals, this would also make her an inversion of The One Who Wears Shoes.
  • Zigzagged Trope in Fuga: Melodies of Steel. Some characters wear shoes (Malt, Kyle, Boron, Socks, and Britz), while others don't, while otherwise being fully dressed (Mei, Hanna, the Montblanc twins, Sheena, Jin and Wappa). This also applies to the NPC villagers, as seen in the artbook that comes with the Deluxe Edition. Members of both the Gasco Army and Berman Empire all have some kind of footwear, however.
  • Pretty much the entire cast from the anthropomorphic animal video game High Seas Havoc, including the main protagonist, is lacking in the footwear department despite otherwise being fully-dressed.
  • The "morphs" from Inherit the Earth, bipedal animals who talk, wear clothes and live in civilizations like humans once did, don't bother with any footwear.
  • In Jazz Jackrabbit, Lori Jackrabbit wears a purple top and shorts, but goes barefoot. Jazz himself is usually an Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal who wears only a bandana, but comes under this trope when his outfit includes pants.
  • Jitsu Squad averts this for all the characters except Jazz Amun, a frogman who ditches footwear. Though it's less this trope and more because the players used to be human warriors before a curse turned them into animals, and Jazz used to be a Buddhist Monk (known for forgoing shoes) before he's turned into a frog-man.
  • In King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride, the trolls don't wear shoes. This extends to Rosella when she's turned into one during Chapter 2, although her shoes magically reappear on her feet when she changes back.
  • Latch from Lethal League is modestly-dressed for a crocodile, bearing a hoodie, some sweatpants and a beanie cap, but leaves his hands and feet bare. Justified in that he then uses his exposed sharp claws to hang onto walls.
  • Rocket Raccoon's outfit in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 covers everything on his body except his head, his tail, and his hind paws.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Inverted, since most of the characters wear nothing but shoes and gloves. (Some of the characters, such as Ix, Charmy, and most females do wear actual clothes, but also have shoes and gloves.)
    • Played straight with almost every single player character in Sonic's Schoolhouse. All are anthropomorphic animals, all but the kangaroo are fully-dressed (the kangaroo lacks pants), none of them wear any footwear. Due to the first-person viewpoint, though, you have to play two-player to realize this.
  • Player characters in Toontown Online start without shoes, but can buy some at a later point.
  • TY from Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is one of the few main characters in the series who doesn't wear shoes. He's also somehow capable of grinding on rails.
  • Several characters from Undertale wear clothes but not shoes, including Toriel, Dr. Alphys, Toriel's husband King Asgore, Asriel, many of the minor monsters, and some minibosses. Lampshaded with Toriel where you can go into her bedroom and discover a sock drawer, despite the fact that she never wears them.
    • Ralsei and Noelle from the sister game, Deltarune, also go barefoot. This is not apparent with Ralsei during Chapter 1 as his body is in shadow from his outfit, also obscuring the fact he is a goat boy, but Chapter 2 makes it unmistakable. For the deer girl Noelle, it's hard to tell at a glance, but her Berdly-shaking sprite depicts cloven hooves at the bottom of her legs, and if you decline the offer of a "free sample" from the Cyber Shoes II store in Chapter 2, she'll comment that "[she doesn't] really do... shoes. (At least not unless they're custom-made...)". Toby Fox's sketches of Noelle further reaffirm the idea, explicitly depicting her with hooved feet (without being a joke doodle like some of the other sketches featured). Both characters are otherwise fully-dressed.
  • Unlike his partner Dribble, Spitz from WarioWare doesn't have shoes to go with his blue jumpsuit.

    Visual Novels 
  • The cast of Echo wears clothes but not shoes.

    Web Animation 
  • Bethany and Bob from Game Dogs go barefoot but wear full outfits otherwise. This gets outright surreal in episode 8 when Jennifer mentions Bethany's shoes — after we just saw Bethany walk through the door barefoot. And the punchline is that they're out of style. Judging from Bethany's reaction to the remark ("Oh... I see what you did there"), Jennifer intended it as a Stealth Insult.
  • Happy Tree Friends: Russell wears a hat, shirt, and pants, but no shoes since he doesn't have feet, with peg legs in their place.
  • Helluva Boss:
    • Loona wears a half-shirt, pants, and socks that leave her paws uncovered due to her digitigrade stance.
    • While the exact level of clothing varies, including cases of being half dressed or accessory wearing, the animal-type Cherubim are consistently shown as barefoot.
  • Katzun always draws his characters as animals, clothed except for their shoes. However, in his animations he is also likely to take the shortcut of drawing Long Pants instead.
  • Pocket from Trick Moon wears a hoodie, a shirt and shorts, but no shoes.
  • The cast of True Tail are fully-clothed barefooters, except for the pantless Brutus and a few characters who wear Judy Hopps-style toeless boots.

    Webcomics 
  • In By the Tail the furry characters wear clothes, but not shoes.
  • Felix O'Connel from Cloudscratcher usually goes barefoot, even though Ixia was able to get a pair of shoes from his closet when she needed a change of clothes, and he still had a pair for when he went into the city. Word of God is that he Does Not Like Shoes in the same way that a human might. It was also presumably common in the old Avian Empire. Of the three birds whose feet have been in frame, only one was wearing sandals.
  • Clothes in general are a rare sight in Crossed Claws, but of the only characters who do wear clothes, Jered the rabbit and Claudia the mouse, their outfits don't include shoes.
  • All the members of Species X from DNA go barefoot, probably because the scientists who are raising them don't bother to give them shoes.
  • In Drop-Out, Lola has no feet, just blunt-ended legs, and can't wear shoes. Sugar usually does, but goes barefoot at home and at one point forgets that she isn't barefoot during the journey, accidentally kicking something when trying to pick it up with her thumbed tarsier foot.
  • The main characters of Forestdale are furry kids who wear full outfits without shoes. However, the adults dress this way as well.
  • The Lycans from Foxy Flavored Cookie are anthropomorphic furries who don't wear shoes but are otherwise fully clothed.
  • The characters of Furry Fight Chronicles zigzag between wearing shoes or being barefoot depending on their physiology or preference.
    • Barefoot preference is more common in characters who have a more animalistic physiology than others. Cookie and Nyarai are the only barefooters. The main difference is that Cookie has digitigrade paws that make it hard to find shoes for her while Nyarai has humanoid feet with paw pads similar to Muko and Kalita, being barefoot out of choice or preference.
  • The cast of Kevin & Kell, except for the human baby Francis. Lampshaded on occasion: they hang up Christmas stockings, but don't know what they're for beyond putting presents in. Also on the occasion Danielle (who's from the human dimension) makes shoes for Francis and the other are perplexed by it.
  • The titular characters of Laugh Out Loud Cats are fully dressed except for footwear. Lampshaded in this strip.
    "I'd make a peach cobblr, but we don't evn wear shoes."
  • In Lancer: The Knights of Fenris, a furry Space Opera, most of the characters are soldiers who wear a variety of military uniforms, complete with boots. However, there's been one exception so far: the feline Duchess Ivanna Morozov, whose costume is a flowing white robe and bare feet.
  • The furry characters in TwoKinds tend to be either mostly or entirely naked, but they consistently go barefoot due to their digitigrade foot structure.
  • VHV features a cast of kangaroo-like space colonists who are fully clothed except for shoes.
  • All of the main anthropomorphic cast of The Whiteboard are barefoot even when otherwise fully clothed. Swampy even Lampshaded it in this strip:
    Swamp Fox: ". . . why do I even own socks?"
  • In the original run of The World of Vicki Fox, about half the furry characters (most notably Vicki and her friend Meredith Skunk) usually wore full outfits but went barefoot while the rest wore shoes. When the comic returned from hiatus in 2017, most of the shoe-wearers started going barefoot as well.
    • Lampshaded in one strip which simultaneously invokes both this trope and All Women Love Shoes. Meredith's boyfriend Aussie complains when Meredith and Vicki rope him into a shopping trip:
      Aussie: You'll drag me in every shoe shop in the mall... to buy shoes you don't even wear!
    • Lampshaded again here. Vicki and Meredith are about to go on a camping trip together, and Vicki suggests they wear boots.
      Meredith: I, like, don't wear shoes, 'cept for heels.

    Web Original 
  • A great deal of anthro/furry artists on the web always draw their characters barefoot, even if they're otherwise dressed perfectly normally, and even in situations where going barefoot is inadvisable (like, say, in snow, though some animals are adapted to snow). Listing specific artists would likely quadruple the length of the list, however. The trope is very rarely lampshaded, and often times not even noted; that is, it's not uncommon for a character's reference sheet to depict the character barefoot, even in multiple different costumes, but even if it goes into great detail about the character's wardrobe preferences, their preferred footwear (or preferred lack thereof) is never brought up.
  • '90s cult icon Elmo Aardvark usually appeared fully dressed with a red vest and necktie. He ditched the shoes for his appearance on the self-titled web series Elmo Aardvark: Outer Space Detective! in 2004.
  • Anthros from the Tails Series are always noted for being shoeless. This is most likely because most anthros' feet and footpaws are too big for shoes, and because shoes are generally uncomfortable for them to wear.

    Web Videos 

    Western Animation 
  • The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin Teddy Ruxpin is an Illiop, basically an anthropomorphic bear. He wears a shirt and shorts, but no shoes. He mentions in "The Faded Fobs" that Illiops don't normally wear shoes.
  • Fergie the White Rabbit from Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Just like his ancestor from the film, he's a fully-clothed barefooter.
  • Gumball, a blue cat, and his parents (his mom a cat like him, his dad a pink rabbit) from The Amazing World of Gumball are fully dressed besides not wearing shoes. His adopted goldfish brother Darwin wears ONLY shoes, and his sister (also a rabbit) wears shoes or socks. The series lampshades it in several episodes; for example, in the Origins Episode, it turns out Gumball used to wear shoes, but he gave Darwin the pair he wears now.
  • The majority of the talking frog characters from Disney's Amphibia are fully clothed with the exception of shoes.
    • Main character Sprig Plantar wears a green jacket, black shorts and a dark green hat with goggles.
    • Hop Pop wears a gray coat, purple trousers, a yellow waistjacket, a blue ascot and has light purple spats, which he wears on his otherwise bare feet.
  • Nearly every non-human character from Animaniacs wears clothes without shoes, although quite a few of them are Half Dressed Cartoon Animals or Accessory Wearing Cartoon Animals.
  • Animaniacs (2020): Julia, a Recurring Character in the Pinky and the Brain segments, is a mouse who wears either a green pantsuit (in her first appearance) or a Spy Catsuit-like outfit (in her second) but goes barefoot.
  • In The Barkleys, all of the characters are anthro dogs who are barepawed but otherwise fully clothed. But curiously, in one episode Arnie is frying up burgers and tells his friends, "Take two, fellas...you can use 'em to resole your shoes!"
  • Contrary to being fully dressed in a coat, tie, cap and vest in his comic book appearances, Batman villain Mr. Toad appeared barefoot with white spats on TV's Beware the Batman.
  • Most characters from Danger Rangers, although the heroes will wear boots when necessary for safety's sake.
  • DuckTales (2017): Much like in the original show, whether or not a character wears shoes depends on how human-like their body is. Of the main characters only Launchpad and Mrs. Beakley wear shoes, though Scrooge has spats that cover a portion of his feet. This ends up becoming a minor plot point in "The Richest Duck in the World!" when Scrooge tries to rebuild his fortune from scratch and starts back up his old shoe shine business, only to realise that nobody wears shoes.
  • Peter Puppy in the Earthworm Jim cartoon, where he sports a shirt and some shorts, but no shoes; in the source game, however, he's completely nude.
  • The central characters in Elinor Wonders Why appear fully clothed, but have no shoes.
    • Elinor, a white bunny rabbit, wears a red and purple dress as her main wardrobe.
    • Ari the bat wears a green t-shirt and gold shorts.
    • Olive the elephant wears a light blue blouse and leggings and a dark blue skirt and bow ribbon.
  • All the heroic dinosaurs from Extreme Dinosaurs gain footwear after transforming with the exception of their fighting triceratops, Spike. Their enemies, the Raptors, do not have footwear considering they are digitigrades.
  • Brian Griffin, the talking dog of Family Guy, is usually nude, and when he does wear clothes, his outfits usually include a shirt and pants but no shoes.
  • Gabby’s Dollhouse has several cats who wear clothes without shoes — or at least seem to. With some of them, it's hard to tell because the characters have bootie-like paws a la Hello Kitty.
    • DJ Catnip wears a glittery magenta hoodie that acts almost in a skirt to him thanks to how short his legs are.
    • Kitty Fairy wears a green dress that looks like a flower.
    • Cakey wears a cupcake wrap as a "shirt".
    • Both Baby Box and Mama Box wear colorful plastic cups as "dresses" and body.
  • Belfry, the batty Non-Human Sidekick of Filmation's Ghostbusters, wears only a leotard without shoes. Interestingly, his siblings are all Fully Dressed Cartoon Animals.
  • Eugly the rabbit from Kaeloo wears a tee-shirt, a skirt and leggings, but no footwear.
  • Lieb from The Lingo Show wears a leotard and wristbands, but nothing on her feet.
  • Lana and Judy Lionheart from The Lionhearts wear full outfits without shoes.
  • Mother Bear, from the animated Little Bear series, wears a long dress without slippers.
  • Mighty Max: Virgil wears only a red cloak and Hanuman only wears a Loincloth when encountered in the zoo. After putting on his warrior vestments, Hanuman still doesn't wear shoes. Justified in that, like most monkeys, he has hand-like feet which not only probably wouldn't fit in shoes, but also provide increased agility which would be negated if he wore shoes.
  • A few debatable cases in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Although the pony characters have hooves instead of feet, and despite the fact that they don't usually wear much in the way of clothes anyway, a couple of the various outfits and costumes they wear throughout the series either lack footwear entirely, or put footwear on the fore hooves (hand equivalents) while leaving the hind hooves (foot equivalents) unshod. Some examples of the latter scenario would be Applejack's boots and Rainbow Dash's gauntlet/slipper things in their respective Grand Galloping Gala costumes, as well as Rarity's slippers from her bathrobe outfit during her breakdown in "Suited For Success".
    • This choice actually makes sense since ponies don't normally wear clothes to begin with; outfits are usually worn for decorative reasons, and shoes complete the outfit. Also, being quadrupedal, their back hooves will be obstructed by the front hooves or their dresses, so it wouldn't make sense to put shoes on hooves that won't be seen by others.
    • Spike the dragon, who actually does have feet, is almost always barefoot, even in the few situations where he's otherwise wearing a full outfit (such as the getup he's tossed into in "The Ticket Master" or his bard outfit from "Hearth's Warming Eve"). This doesn't change until the sixth season RPG Episode "Dungeons & Discords", in which he wears boots as Garbunkle the magician.
    • Maud Pie is probably the best consistent example of this trope in the show— as an adult, she always wears a frock covering all of her body but showing the legs and hooves, while most other ponies make a habit out of usually wearing no clothes.
  • Punkin' Puss and Mushmouse: Neither titular character wears shoes — which is not surprising given that they're a hillbilly cat and mouse.
  • Quack Pack: Shoes are the only clothes Huey, Dewey and Louie do not wear.
  • Some characters from Sheriff Callie's Wild West, most notably the trio of singing prairie dogs, wear Western outfits but go barefoot.
  • Hardware and Windhammer, two alien members of Mon*Star's mob in SilverHawks. Hardware has a space adventurer outfit with pants, while Windhammer wears a cloak that reaches to his knees, but neither one uses footwear.
  • Snooper and Blabber, Hanna-Barbera's cat/mouse team of Detective Animals, wear stereotypical Private Detective outfits with nice hats and trenchcoats that reach to their knees, but no shoes.
  • The Space Cats wear sci-fi outfits that include no footwear.
  • Some of the humanoid animal beings known as the Beastials from Spider-Man Unlimited do not wear shoes.
  • Most of the cast of SpongeBob SquarePants go barefoot. In fact, this led to a situation where SpongeBob forgot how to tie his shoes, and couldn't find anyone who could help him remember, because most everyone he asked either didn't wear shoes or didn't have feet.
  • Lt. M'Ress from Star Trek: The Animated Series is a Cat Folk alien who wears a Starfleet uniform but goes barefoot. The official explanation is that she doesn't need (or want) footwear because of her thick pawpads, although the animators don't bother drawing them when her soles are visible.
  • From SWAT Kats: T-Bone and Razor go barefoot in their pilot suits, while Dark Kat wears a black cloak that reaches to his ankles (and apparently nothing else). Somewhat odd, given that everyone else on the show (except Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal Dr. Viper) wears shoes, including the main characters in their civilian attire.
  • None of the Funny Animal characters in Sylvanian Families wear shoes, as per their toyline.
  • In TaleSpin, a lot of characters go barefoot while otherwise being fully clothed. There are too many to list, but examples in the main cast include Rebecca Cunningham (who wears an informal suit complete with pants), her daughter Molly (a child's outfit including a knee-length skirt), Wildcat (a mechanic's uniform), and Shere Khan (an expensive business suit).
  • Some werewolf characters from Teen Wolf. In the main cast, Grandma and Grandpa Howard are fully clothed with shoes, but go barefoot when transformed. Grandma wears a light violet dress without any shoes. Grandpa wears a peach-colored shirt, light brown vest and tan pants, but no footwear.
  • Several Beast Folk characters from ThunderCats (1985) have full outfits with footwear that doesn't cover their footclaws or soles. In the main cast, Tygra wears a blue jumpsuit with open-toed boots. Mumm-Ra wears a long red cloak and bandages, but does not have any footwear.
  • All the Beast Folk of ThunderCats (2011) are barefoot with otherwise full outfits, excepting Leo, Panthera and the Swordmaker.note  Justified in the case of the series' cats, shown using their foot claws to climb structures like the giant tree featured in their Gladiator Games. Noble Cats do make a point of wearing spats for fashion's sake.
  • Fully-clothed barefooters in Tiny Toon Adventures include Babs Bunny, Hamton J. Pig, Shirley McLoon, and Rhubella Rat. Roderick Rat gies back and forth between this trope and Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal, depending on the episode.
  • Toot & Puddle. Toot and Puddle are pigs who both go barefoot. However, Dr. Ha Song, who is also a pig and Otto, a turtle, both wear footwear. There are other characters who are less anthropomorphic that also don't wear it, as they don't walk about on two legs like the other characters.
  • Junkyard, the humanoid mutant dog from Toxic Crusaders doesn't wear shoes.
  • Except for Keswick, almost all the major male characters in T.U.F.F. Puppy (which takes place in a World of Funny Animals) are usually seen barefoot but otherwise clothed. However, some of them (like main character Dudley) fit under the half-dressed category. Lampshaded in "Mom's Away", which has a gag about a kangaroo mom who can't find shoes to fit her huge feet.
  • Little Bits, a Cute Kitten introduced in the Wander over Yonder episode "The Stray", starts out as one, first appearing in a tattered dress and bare feet. When the characters enter rough desert terrain, Wander gives her his shoesnote  to protect her "poor exposed little footsies". In later appearances, she reverts to this trope when she wears clothes at all.
  • Darwin, the chimpanzee sidekick from The Wild Thornberrys. Eliza gave him clothes not long after they met, but Darwin still doesn’t wear shoes though.
  • In Wild West COW Boys Of Moo Mesa, the majority of the main cast and several background characters wear Western outfits without shoes or boots. Possibly a Justified Trope because they have hooves instead of paws.
  • Work It Out Wombats! takes place in a World of Funny Animals, none of whom wear any shoes.
  • Quite a few characters in Yin Yang Yo! go around without shoes, particularly the main three. Lampshaded in the episode "Worked Stiff"; Yang gets a job at an amusement park to get a pair of expensive shoes, then when Yin and Yo get them for him after he loses his job, he just throws them onto a power line, pointing out to Yin that he doesn't wear shoes.

Alternative Title(s): Barefoot Funny Animal, Barefoot Petting Zoo People

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