These shoes are not up to the usual Joan & David standards.

Although the shoes are lightweight and the soles offer decent support, the material the shoes are made of is really stiff and does not give much when walking.  The shoes run very narrow in the area where the decorative band runs over the top.  Given the stiff material the shoes are made of, it doesn't seem likely that the shoes could be "worn in" a bit to soften them up.

And oddly, even though they are extremely tight in that one area, the shoe runs on the long side in length.

Additionally, there are multiple frayed threads on both shoes.

The extremely narrow fit was tight enough that it my feet are still hurting from it -- ten minutes after the test walk.  These shoes were returned.