I'm really torn on these shoes to be honest. I'm a long term Dayton wearer - about 30 years and lots of pairs of Daytons. Make no mistake - they are easily one of the most uncomfortable shoes I've ever worn. I've done all the tricks - from a half size, to a full size higher, shoe stretchers, etc. They've even made my feet bleed! But I've worn them religiously for the last 30 years because they look so good, and at this point, as a professional entertainer, they're also so associated with me that I can't wear anything else.
Nevertheless I was ecstatic to see that they had made improvements to the Dayton shoe and ordered immediately. Now for the good - the improvements to the comfort are life changing! I'm not exaggerating when I say that putting on a Dayton II feels like wearing a sneaker. The gel insert, the padding on the heel area inside the shoe, and the rubber grippy sole have completely transformed this shoe to an all day everyday wearable shoe with no pain at all.
Now for the bad - almost everything style and looks-wise is a downgrade from the regular Dayton. I'm not sure what they were thinking but all they needed to do was make the comfort improvements to the regular Dayton and it would have been a winner.
Instead they made puzzling changes like boxing off the toe of the shoe. The distinctive sharp stylish point of the Daytons is gone - replaced by a squarish, clownish looking toe. That's the biggest disappointment. The pinhole pattern on the toe, isn't as nice as the one on the daytons, but that's subjective. They added a black stripe to the back of the heel of the shoe, breaking the white ring that goes around the ankle, although that's not as bad since people don't see the back of the shoe when you're wearing them. They changed to thin leather laces from the nice silk ones on the regular dayton. Everyone I've shown both to agree the regular Daytons are much better looking. As much as I love the comfort, back to the original Daytons I go.
