RIVAL-300 Black Lace Up Boots

I got these a few weeks ago, and have been wearing them every day. I have to wear arch inserts--custom made orthotics--so buying shoes can be a little tricky. A lot of times, with my orthotics, I wear around size 8.5 (US Women's). I got these in a size 9, and my orthotics make them fit well. They don't come with a removable sole liner (which if you wear orthotics like mine you place the orthotic under the liner), so I just used the liners from another pair of shoes I have. I was also worried they might be a little tight in the calves, since I'm not the most slender gal, but they're actually very comfortable! Plus you can loosen or tighten the laces to get a nice fit around your calves. These might be a little uncomfortable if you have somewhat wider feet like I do, after about a week or so of wearing these I started to have a bit of pain on the outside of my feet, it was just sitting a little awkwardly against the bottom I suppose. But we've already established that I have kind of weird feet, so results may not be typical. Otherwise, the more I've worn these shoes the more that pain seems to subside. As for utility, I work in a medical lab. These fall within PPE guidelines, the inner zippers seem pretty sturdy. I've even worn them when casually hiking around a local branch of the Rockies. There didn't really seem to be any sort of "breaking in" period, aside from what I mentioned above. Conclusion: the only reason I don't give these the whole 5 stars is because I did have that discomfort that may or may not be just particular to me. And the rating system on here doesn't seem to allow me to give a 4.7. Sidenote/Post script: a year ago I tried ordering a pair of boots from Rivithead, the size didn't work out, and I basically was unable to get the shoes. I just want to mention that I made an effort to find shoes that I both liked and would fit me from Rivithead, even though I could get a lot of these elsewhere, because their customer service was really great. I wasn't jerked around before when trying to exchange or return that last pair, my money was returned expediently. So I highly recommend ordering from these folks.