I read reviews about these boots before I bought them. About how they might be to tight, quality was questionable etc. And I can tell you its mostly true, my pair of Dr. Martens were made in China and the leather is very soft and they are very very snug, I have had them for a few weeks and use them for work and I can tell you my job is very hard on boots, they are breaking in nicely but are still so snug that they hurt the tops of my feet. I figure they will loosen up a bit more and then they will be fine. I am not kidding when I tell you this, the first time I tried to pull on the boots one of the "boot straps" (left boot) actually came loose! it just dangles now, I can get it fixed easily I suppose and will when I have time to. as for putting them on, that is an adventure in itself! I think the left one is a bit tighter than the right one cause the right one was hard to pull on but I started to think I may not get the left one on at all, I did after using all my strength and even building up a bit of a sweat! If you buy these boots you may want to buy one size bigger than your normal size. If I could buy them again I'm not sure if I would buy a bigger size or not cause when there on they fit like a glove except for being snug on the tops of my feet.