Matryx Lace Up Sneaker

Started to fall apart within half an hour of trail running. Surface paint that covers the upper Matryx fabric de-bonded and the front medial side upper - midsole interfacing came apart right to the stitching zone of the footbed. The adhesive that holds the sock liner down also started to fail at the same time, which suggests these shoes were stored badly during transport or warehousing (probably a whole container of them stuck in the Red Sea?), causing the PU adhesives to degrade. They are very good shoes but the decision to paint the Matryx upper was a bad one, I think! I have some Long Sky Matryx which are holding up after a few weeks but my confidence in Merrell is gone and I won't replace these Sky Fire Matryx, even if the price was very low, because I need to depend on my shoes, and not depend on saving as much money as possible. I notice that the Long Sky shoes that I have are actually showing creases where the paint is being worn off after about four trail runs, so this suggests that it is not a good idea to paint this fabric – better to just rely on dyes for cosmetic designs.