At first they felt a little hard but I was aware there would be a "breaking in" period. After wearing them 3-4 times they became more comfortable and now I love them. I am flat footed with Plantar Fasciitis and they give me the arch support that I neeed. Price was about the same as in Dillards where I was going to purchase them but the pair in the store looked used so I ran to amazon and to my expectation they had them! =) I plan to get the brown soon. Vionic is great for PF!