The shoes themselves are fine, and they look good. HOWEVER, the first time I tried to wear the shoe, the little metal "eye" that goes into the ankle strap hole fell off completely. In my attempt to fix it (with a knife, really poor choice on my part) I ended up stabbing myself in the hand 7 days before my pole competition. So. Not. Awesome. But I did end up fixing the shoe. Or so I thought. the night of my competition, the exact same thing happened, to BOTH shoes. Thank the sweet Lord someone happened to have a pair of pliers, so I could fix the shoes. It was an easy fix, but it's also an easy thing to do correctly when the shoe is made in the first place. This speaks to a lack of quality control during construction, so be aware!