Normally, faux leather doesn't look and feel so cheap. I suppose from a distance you can get away with this look, but at the end of the day it was just too off for me. I couldn't get over the feel. Besides that, the calf opening was not large enough to do anything with. I would suppose if you had thin calves, this may not be a problem, but for us girls that do possess muscular calves, this is not the boot for us! The actual styling or appearance of the design was a great idea, but they need to: either do this in a better faux leather or pump up the style with real leather, AND either incorporate some type of stretch into the calf opening or just plain make it bigger. I mean, the whole point of a "riding" boot is to be able to see the boot. This means that we need to be able to stuff our pants in them!! Do better White Mountain, I know you can as I am a big fan of your other suede selections!