I wanted them to be wonderful but they're not. They look great but I've never had shoes that actually cut into the insides of your feet before. The uppermost inner stitch on the rear part of the elastic protrudes directly thru your socks and into your feet...making them bleed. Forget wearing them without socks. I'm not kidding. Maybe they changed their design or whatever but these are hands down, the worst shoes I've ever purchased. I even tried to clamp/press the offending nubbin flat with a Quick Grip clamp with little success. Perhaps after suffering through a few months of wearing them things will change but so far, one month into wearing them, they deserve the most poorly designed modern shoe award ever. Good penance shoes to go along with a horsehair shirt.