My husband is a big fan of Merrell footwear and has one pair he currently wears that are his favorite all around shoe of all time.<br />But this pair he could barely get his right foot in this tight collar/opening, though when he finally did, they were comfortable and fit as expected.<br />However, the left one he could not get on at all, even tighter opening than the right. So these are SO obviously defective, this particular pair anyway and probably don't want to take a chance on getting another pair with something wrong with them.