When I bought these I was a bit worried that the eyelets which are made of canvas would not last. They did not. The shoes were very comfortable and kept me dry and warm in 0 degree snow (I was wearing good wool socks). However, after 5 months of wearing 2 to 3 days a week, one of the canvas eyelets ripped through. There is no way to tighten the shoe when even a single eyelet tears. Though reasonably priced, I would gladly have paid a couple dollars more for metal eyelets. I am experimenting with drilling a hole next to the eyelet to see how long that lasts, but the strain of tightening the shoe laces will probably cause that to fail. The shoes were inexpensive, so having a shoe repair shop repair them would cost almost as much as the shoe and I can see a couple other eyelets already showing wear. If you do not insist on tightening the shoe as much as I do, the Columbia's may work better for you.