So my babies came in the mail today. Say hello to the Club Spike Shoe by Substitute. I bought them off Karmaloop.com but I think they only have them in limited sizes now. Anywhoo, I'm sure they're scattered all over the interweb on different sites. Upon reading the reviews on it's predecessors, I was warned that they were highly difficult to walk in and that they ran either too small or too big. The reviews were so confusing and kinda got me down before I purchased these. I was just hoping they weren't a huge disappointment. When they arrived I of course ripped em open, put on some socks and put those babies on. At first, yes, they take a bit getting used to due to the small width of the platform. Low & behold I have experience in these kinds of shoes. I purchased the Flashing Lights platforms from Irregular Choice a year ago and it took me a minute to get used to walking in those as well. I deem the Flashing Light's 10x more difficult to walk in than these, mainly because on those there's only a small portion of the shoe that touches the ground at one time. It kind of rocks freely back and forth but I've gotten used to it's design and can walk in them quite fine now. Now these FLAT platforms were very easy to get into. I've been wearing them for the past 4 hours and I don't plan on taking them off until I go to bed tonight (maybe not even then! haha). But to all those that are worried about the sizing and the difficulty level on walking in these, I suggest you get them and see for yourself. Sizing-wise, I bought a half-size bigger because they didn't have a size 7 and it turned out well. I can comfortably wear these with my semi-thick wooly winter socks and they're comfy as all hell. Do not fret when purchasing these. I would say that they run a tad bit small considering how snug these size 7.5 fit me with socks. I can deal though. Purchase made in heaven!
