Merrell generally makes shoes that I, with my flat wide feet, gravitate toward (er, so to speak). They tend to not assume that I've wrapped my feet like a retro ballerina. The Merrell Women's Primo Hemp Shoes, however, are even more exceptional - they are actually large enough to let me put my orthotic insoles in them (and there's only one other shoe in the world that I've managed that with, so I'm nine kinds of delighted with these - you doubled my shoe wardrobe, guys!). They're comfortable, broke in extremely easily (one tiny baby toe blister after walking in them for hours on the very day Merrell sent them to me) and are reasonably agreeable looking. They're also surprisingly waterproof. Even the packaging is nice: fairly minimalist - a cardboard box with paper packing. There's just one thing I find weird.
Why would Merrell go to the trouble of making a marijuana-green clog in hemp, but trim it with marijuana-green leather? The sole is synthetic, the insides appear to be a breathable nylon, and the upper is hemp. Seems geared to the Hippyshopper crowd - except for that little strip of leather wrapped around the edge. It looks nice, and I'm sure it's sturdy, but surely a synthetic would've opened up the market potential? I would never suggest you sin, of course, but I gotta say, they are my new favourite shoe - and if you take orthotic insoles, at $80 USD, these are a top-notch option for affordable summer wear. [GT]
The Merrell site says that the collar is synthetic. http://www.merrell.com/Shop/Detail.aspx?NavID=FT-TW-SLD&PID=8873
That's odd - the literature they sent with it says it's suede. Perhaps they realized suede was goofy and went over to synthetic, or sent me the wrong literature. Hope so, since it's a great shoe aside from that one oddity.