Merrell Men's Encore Gust Slip-On Shoe

I have purchased several pairs. They are great for my feet. I need wide, 8 1/2 with good support, no high rear to rub my heel spur and arthritis, and no "flip/flop" hurting action as I walk, irritating my aging bunion.. That was a major concern when I ordered these years ago: would they flop when walking and create even more issues with knee and foot pain (Sorry to offend anyone, but I hate fip-flops and think there should be a health ban on them outside of the shower room!). In fact, in my first pair of these shoes, I put holes and grommets near the rear to lace them up my leg Iike ballet dancer's toe shoes to prevent any flopping. But with my second pair, I either started waling better or the design changed slightly and I did not need to be that drastic. However, these are not for serious, long distance walking for my feet. I can wear them all day for office work with plenty of standing and for running routine errands, but for two mile or more walks, even with my lacing technique, there is still enough flop action in these shoes to destroy my ankles and knees. So for my walking/exercising shoes I must look elsewhere. The look of these is more casual than I would like, but my feet are more important than style. They do look better than the more expensive Birkenstock (definitely too casual, expensive, and mostly sandal-like anyway) and I've never tried on a Birkenstock that felt any better on first fit than these do. I wear the high gloss, smooth finish style with a suit. (Again, sorry if I offend anyone, but they go on my feet with no pain all day--and I do wear orthotic inserts with them that fit well with the liner removed.) They are also much more expensive than I would like, but my reasoning is the same--they are good for my feet. I have read that the newer version of this shoe does not hold up as well as the previous version. I have a rough brown finish and smooth brown finish pair that have worn well--more than two years for the smooth brown and going in four and a half years on the rough brown. I have been waiting for black to come in around $80 and they did.( I have two pair of the Breeze style of this shoe, but only wear them as slippers around the house or for a quick trip out as with their open weave pattern, they look even more casual than the Gust. You can find Breeze version in the $50/60 range, although the men's version is getting harder to find.) I just hope that the negative review I read is wrong and that this new black model will hold up as well as the older brown ones have and that the slight price drop does not reflect drop in quality. The negative review complained of upper and lower separation. My older pairs are still going strong. If these do hold up as well, I will buy more when needed. If they don't hold up as well, I will be greatly disappointed that I need to start looking for good office shoes again.

Normally wear a 10.5 in sneakers had to send the first pair back to get a size 10. I have plantar fasciitis so I have to be careful with the shoes I wear. I tried these and they initially hurt my feet but I swapped the insoles for redwing moldable inserts and they are some of my most comfortable shoes. I am an ICU nurse so I am on my feet for 13 hours a day and when I go home my feet don't hurt at all. I have had the shoes for two years now and they still work great. At this point there is starting to be some separation between the sole and the upper part of the shoe but they definitely still have some life. Just ordered my second pair to wear for upcoming ARNP clinicals. Would definitely recommend these but with a half size smaller so they fit snug and possibly with redwing inserts if you have feet problems.

If I had to pick one pair of shoes to walk around the world in, it would be a pair of Merrill’s. These clogs looks nice enough to wear in place of dress shoes and are casual enough that I wear them to the gym (and then put on running shoes of course). They come from Merrill so you know they are good quality. Deep rich brown that can take a polish in a few months or just some mink oil to keep them looking nice. They fit as expected. I’m usually a solid 11US when it comes to shoes and these are no exception. They were a little tight over the top (I don’t have a high arch, my foot is very average), but I expected them to stretch out a bit and they have.

I loved my old Encore Grooves which I could wear to travel overseas, they were easy to slip on and off in airports, yet stayed on my feet and I could even do some pretty serious hiking in them. The leather uppers looked great, much classier than sneakers or "Jungle mocs." So they're worn out now and the Encore Gust is the only similar-appearing replacement it seems. I find that in the Gust my heel always feels like it's slipping out when walking, and I measure that my heel is almost 1/2" higher than with the Groove (see pics, you can see a lot more of my sock with the Gust). The tread is still robust enough for hiking but I doubt the heel will keep out small rocks etc, possibly even when walking on city streets. The Gust has a narrower heel also, so less stable for hiking, and the foot opening is weird and more oblong. The sizing is also large, I usually go 8.5 but 8.0 was a better fit. It's a nice looking shoe but the Groove was better.

The sizing as few others have mentioned is very strange with this shoe. I was excited by the glowing reviews most have left but ultimately find that the truth was in the critical reviews for my foot. I usually have no problem wearing sneakers from Nike, Asics, Brooks in 9.0 Medium Width; however, for this shoe, the sizing is first of all very large, sizing down to find the right length by 1.5 from my sneaker size. When I found the right length shoe though, the width was then too narrow. Merrell's sizing thus runs about 1.5 too large, relative to my sneaker size, and runs narrow. If you have a narrow foot, you will find this shoe works for you.

My favorite shoes for many years were Merrell leather slip on. I don't know how many years I had the shoes before last week I determined the soul was simply too warn. I went to Amazon, looked at Merrill shoes I was both surprised and delighted to find the exact shoe had loved all these years.. Out of the box they were exact (as far as I can tell:) replica's of the old to slip ons that have served me so well. I ordered the same size as the ones I already owned which we size 11. I normally wear size 12 in shoes. So I was not surprised the fit perfectly but would repeat the observation shared in other posts, these shoes run large.

Had a pair of these for 10 years. Love them. Hope this pair are as good. Then the price will be justified

excellent

This is the 4th pair of these shoes I have owned. Needless to say I find them to be one of the most comfortable shoes I have owned and they ware like iron. Some may find the price to be somewhat high for a casual shoe, but trust me, they are worth every cent. I hope Merrell never quits making them.

Ich trage diese Dinger 365 Tage im Jahr,egal ob Regen,Schnee,Matsch oder was auch immer. Zum Dachdecken,bei Grabarbeiten,zumRasenmähen,zum Wandern,Sonntags in die Kirche. Solche Schuhe sind ihren Preis wert.

Very comfortable. Love Merrells !!!