These boots are amazing, truly beautiful and unique. The applique is really nice, seems high quality and still looks very nice after months of use. I love that they zip up the sides. It makes them so much quicker to take on/off than the old style of boot. I bought these over the summer and when I tried them on, I thought, " There is no way these are going to work for me," because they felt so tight and stiff on my feet. Following advice on breaking in Doc Martens on the internet, I took the insoles out of the boots and wore them around the house as much as I could. As they stretched out, I started going for walks in them. Then I wore them to a late summer festival where it rained every day. My feet stayed happy, dry and warm through the whole event. At home, I wiped all the mud off and applied the Doc Marten shoe conditioner, made with lanolin, beeswax and coconut oil. I even rubbed the conditioner over the applique design. The boots became even more supple and beautiful. Then I put the insoles back into the shoes, and they fit me perfectly. They are very comfortable to wear now, even though they are still in the "breaking in" period. I recommend a thin merino hiking sock (like Smartwool makes) to protect your foot from the leather rubbing on your ankles.It is interesting to be back in the "Docs" club again after so many years. I had a few pairs as a teen and in my 20s that I wore out until they literally had holes in the soles and the eyelets had fallen out. I am in my 40s now and I am noticing how evocative the boots are. People who wore docs at any point in their lives feel like they have a kinship with you. They will float right into nostalgia about the boots they wore, or they will tell you all about the ones they are wearing. I have never experienced this with any other shoe, even the quality ones. Something about docs is magical and personal for people. It is a shoe that you develop a relationship with. You walk differently, stand differently. It changes you in a subtle ways. What is that?