I have been wearing this style of shoe, mostly for the comfortability and old style training for many years. Back in the day when I fought full contact, with little protective gear in Hawaii, you ended up kicking them off. Usually they would slip off or someone would step on them. Great to wear around the Dojo or Kwoon. Run on a gravel road with them and toughen your feet. The sole does have an unusual smell to them that was not there in the older shoes I have bought over the last 20 years. I set them out in the sun for a couple of days and smell is not foul as it was before. Other than that it is a shoe that we used to wear in Kempo and some Chinese Martial Arts I studied through the years.