Thanks
I recently received a couple of Adelaides from Meermin (Oak Antique Calf - E - 101565). The shoes are fantastic, I got them after hearing so much good feedback. These are beautiful shoes, elegant and sleek looking. My wife and sister liked them very much at first glance!
I put these on today for the first time.I will describe the experience as accurately as I can and excuse my english (4th language, lol). So, in the beginning, I compared the overall size of them with three other same-size (8 US - 41 EU) shoes I have. The width is bigger by 1 cm in comparison to Barbenara Goodyear welted italian adelaides, it's because of the elongated toe and last, and they're way longer than a Floresheim Imperial derby, and the same length as Fratelli Rossetti Brera. So they're sleek and elongated, and they're the appropriate size for my feet, in general, the difference with the other shoes remains exclusively in the toe part of the shoe.
Then, I tried to wear them using my bare hands, as I try to do often to see how flexible a shoe is, and I couldn't, I tried as hard as I can to push my feet inside and stretch with my two hands, but it was impossible! This leather is tough, like concrete walls! It's as if it was doubled with a carbon fiber skeleton structure haha! Then, I used a shoe horn, and finally, with some effort, I could put my feet in. Once my feet were inside, I noticed there was no problem for the shoe to accommodate the length of my feet, the topline is the part that is very resistant to flex but once I put my feet in, the ankle is comfortable and not tight, the same for my toes. That said, I noticed a little pressure on the lower part of the foot's bridge, in the throat line of the shoe.
I felt they were rigid, but there wasn't a noticeable annoyance, but after 3 hours I began to notice big pressure on my feet, and the annoyance was growing slowly, in two places: the bridge (throat line of the shoe) and the inside part of the heel where I felt like some rubbing beginning. I did resist for some 3 more hours, and then I took them off while in the car and drove shoeless, enough is enough haha. In fact, I'm lucky I was in the car because if I was walking, I think I would search for the nearest café and sit there as an excuse to take them off lol. And also worth noting the process of taking them off is very difficult also, I used my two hands, one grabbing my foot from the upper of the ankle and the other grabbing the shoe and using a lot of force.
So, what about your experiences with Meermin shoes for the first time wearing them? Is this normal? How much time for them to break in ?! And also, this throat line part of the shoes do soften or not?
Pictures