First off, I typically buy Ryka shoes—specifically this model, but last time in the black/teal option (which I loved). This shoe fit the same as I expected, and the shoe body itself is perfect— it is true to size, though is pretty darn accurate to length, so if you round down, you should instead round up half a size. The shoe hugs my foot close on the sides so that it feels supported, but is breathable. The best part is the heel, which is low enough to not cause blisters at the crease of my ankle joint, and padded well enough to hug my foot and never slide off (even though I never unlace my shoes, and instead shove my foot in and toe the shoe off). The tread will typically wear off in a lot of places within a year, and I honestly have no idea why they claim this is a “trail” model, as I can feel every rock I step on, but I will still wear the model outdoors because they’re so comfortable, don’t cause blisters, and don’t slip off my narrow heel. The memory foam insole almost always tears apart within about two years, unfortunately, which is what prompted my ordering a new pair of shoes (though the old ones are still perfectly functional, and I just need to get new insoles). Anyway, on to this particular shoe: The quality, structure, and fit all feel the same as usual—wonderful! The big problem for me we’re the insoles. To start, as many people have stated in their reviews, the insoles are strangely shaped, in that they appear too small in length for the shoe, since your toes feel like they’re half on the padding. I provided pictures to show the bump at the edge of the insole in the toe box (which is considerable), and how far away it is from the edge of the shoe. I definitely don’t remember ever having as significant a bump in any of my other Ryka shoes. Additionally, one of my shoes had an insole that was incorrectly positioned (it was too far forward, placing a large gap under the back of my heel, and the insole would bunch strangely under my foot because the curve of the insole didn’t match the curve of the shoe at that placement) and I had to wrestle with the extremely powerful glue to move the insole to the right spot. Since the insoles are only glued at the heel, this didn’t take too much time, and the adhesive remained sticky and was apply to re-adhere when I put the insole in the right spot. The pictures I have included are of the other shoe, though the other shoe now looks the same. Because insole has the significant bump under the toes, rather than all the way to the edge, and because the insoles are only glued at the back, and back the insoles are slick on the bottom, the insoles slide and shift under my feet until they find the position that seems appropriate for my feet (rather than the intended effect of forming TO my feet, which all my other Ryka shoes have done, rather immediately). This results in the insoles constantly sliding slightly back so that the bump of the insoles (the edge at the toe) matches the joints of my toes, leaving my toes off the insole and bunching the insole under the middle of my foot, at the inward curves (as pictured). The result is a very uncomfortable seam of the insole poking up into the outer edge of my foot, and a constant feeling of needing to try to unbunch the insole under my foot, which slides around too easily, so any progress that is achieved is immediately undone. Ultimately, the problem is two-fold: 1) the insoles are too short for the length of the shoe; and 2) the insoles are not glued down or have a grippy underside to keep them in their position. Fortunately, the insoles CAN be removed (you’ll have to wrestle with it a bit, but you can remove it without tearing the insole or the shoe), so if you love Ryka shoes and have an insole you prefer to use, then these should be perfectly fine.
