"I'm usually a size 11 with my dress shoes, and I tried working through the pain of breaking these shoes in b/c I liked the look of them so much. Eventually, I caved, and I returned them for a size 11.5. The 11.5 boots fit better; however, one really interesting thing about this shoe is that the leather is very hard. When I'm walking, or even sitting in my office chair, I feel the top of the shoe pressing into the top side of my feet (right where the toes meet the foot. I'm going to see if this goes away once I break them in, but I've now noticed them with both pairs. It would be really disappointing if I have to return these, b/c I love the look of them so much."