Balos V1 Running Sneaker

Just got these in the mail today. These are my size in sneakers, and actually a 7.5 is a half size bigger than I should wear, but I have a slightly longer second toe, so I go up a half size to accommodate that. First, these shoes, color wise, are called “urgent red”. Actually I believe they are more of an orangey color, like a coral….not really truly “red”. Second, it literally took me a full 10 minutes to be able to get this shoe on my foot! My feet are not at all wide, but they are not super narrow either…they are a true medium width. I also have a somewhat high, but not excessively high, arch. The problem was the same problem I often had with older sketchers; you cannot get your foot far enough forward in the shoe, so therefore your foot cannot go downward (heel where the heel of the shoe is). So, I kept loosening and loosening and loosening the laces to allow my foot to go farther in, before I could attempt to put it down inside the heel. It was not fun. The laces are stretchy, as is the material the shoes are made of on top and inside, but not stretchy enough because the tongue is shorter, but the top fabric of the shoe is very long, so it goes all the way to the top of your ankle as you are trying to put your foot inside, and the material does not “give” enough for you to be able to create more space/stretch it from top to bottom, in other words, the height of the shoe is too narrow and too long, even when stretched to its maximum. This may loosen with use; I’m sure it will, but in the meantime, putting the shoe on your foot seems like an effort in futility, and is extremely frustrating, and fairly painful as well. All you can do is to continue to stretch the fabric beyond its maximum, and keep loosening and loosening the laces. As I mentioned, my arch is somewhat high, but not abnormally high, but I think you could only slip this show on easily if your feet were flat, with little to no arch at all. Also, the fabric on the outside is the same on the inside, and is very cheap feeling and extremely scratchy/abrasive, which makes the experience even worse. I finally got my foot into the shoe (I did not have on socks; just my bare foot, and yet it was tight as all get out! I believe with a sock, even a thin one, it would be much worse! So the inside of the shoe was quite scratchy and uncomfortable, the arch was ok, once my foot was inside, but when I stood up and rocked my foot a bit from side to side and front to back, the heel had a very unpleasant and weird definite rocking motion, so even before you take a single step and are just standing still, the shoe wants to, and does, rock backwards to an area behind the heel, instead of the heel staying flat on the ground, as it should. Perhaps this “feature” is to help your foot propel/roll forward towards the toe if you are running in them? That may be the case, but if I am walking or standing still, I do not want the unstable feeling of my heel rocking backwards. I did not like that sensation at all. So, in summary, the fabric of the top of the shoe feels cheap and is very scratchy….i do not imagine this will get better with time (the scratchiness). With socks it should be better, but I believe that with anything less than a very thick sock, you would continue to feel this scratchiness/stiffness of the fabric. It is also quite thin, with air holes, possibly to improve ventilation, but it truly is much too scratchy for my liking. I usually wear thin socks, as I do not like my foot tightly contained, so the scratchiness would be a problem. Also, the thicker the sock, the harder it would be (if not impossible) to get your foot all the way forward inside the shoe. The color is off. The shoes are very lightweight, but I believe this is so because it is made of cheap, scratchy materials, that will not hold up well over time. The shoes are extremely uncomfortable to put on, which is a real turn off for me. When I need to leave and go somewhere, like to work, for instance, I want to be able to put my shoes on in a timely fashion, not to sit there and struggle with it for 10 minutes per shoe, and become all sweaty with the exertion it requires. I also don’t want my shoes to feel unstable when I am standing still. Conclusion: These shoes are a huge “miss” for me, and will be returned to the store. I’m hoping that not all of the NB shoes are like this one, because if so, I will definitely need to switch brands entirely. I have been wearing Brooks shoes, and have had none of the problems listed above that I have with the NB shoes, but I wanted to try them because they have been advertising that they are a high quality shoe made out of superior materials, so I was anxious to try them out. If these shoes are any indication as to the quality of their materials and superiority to other brands, I would say it does not endear me to this brand and I question their truthfulness and honesty in their marketing campaign for their product.