Kopec GTX Shoe Women's

Happy to report that these Kopec GTX Shoes are exactly what I’d hoped: warm, *completely windproof*, roomy toebox, comfy for lots of city walking, and a great alternative to boots on winter days when there’s no snow on the ground. I’ve gone walking in -8 Celsius (approx 17 Fahrenheit) wearing merino wool socks (thin, not bulky socks) and my feet kept warm for several kilometres of walking. Winter is long enough, and some days I just want to go walking and not have to wear boots. My shoe size is around 9.5 and I went with a size 10 (so I could put in my own Birk blue footbeds which are similar to orthotics so if you need those, they’ll work fine if you go 1/2 size up. The Arc’teryx foot bed is removable as well fyi if you need more space). The reason I can only give 4 stars and not 5, is because the shoelaces are terrible. They *do not stay tied*. The laces on each shoe loosen up after about 15 minutes of walking. I had to stop twice to re-tie them in a half hour span, and they were loose again when I got to my destination. And this is while wearing fleece leggings that stop at my ankles — so the laces didn’t come loose because pants were rubbing on top of my shoes or anything like that. These laces are just too thin and maybe they’re waxed (?) because they loosen constantly. It wasn’t a big deal to buy new laces and I would still have given 5 stars but what made it super frustrating is that the eyelets on these shoes are vertical, flat and narrow, so it was difficult to take out the old laces and even more of a struggle to put in new laces. Grrrrr. That is my only complaint to Arc’teryx’ design team. Please make these with proper laces!! (fyi, the shoelace length is 54” and you’ll want the kind that are oval and for boots or hiking shoes). I’d still buy these shoes again and would recommend them because they’re otherwise nice and great quality.