C&J Chelseas

Just pulled my black C&J chelseas out of the closet and put them on for the first time since I bought them. Fit is pretty comfortable,but I noticed after padding around the apartment for a brief while that I was experiencing some stiffness where the boots break at the top of my foot. Definitely not a comfortable feeling, and not something I would ever get used to.

Is this another C&J personal fitment issue, or is it merely part of a breaking-in period I should expect from these boots? I have had no similar comfort issues with my other C&J ankle boots, though they are lace-ups and very different structurally to the chelsea.

Hi AJL,

Are they true C&J Chelseas or are they from Polo? I am not sure it matters, as they may truly be one and the same boot.

My experience was very similar to yours. I bought a pair of black Chelseas made by Polo on Ebay and found that they were quite tight at the top of my foot.

A. Harris had the same experience, but he had bought from Bluefly and, after not selling them on Ebay, returned them (I assume).

The wierd thing for me was that I have another pair of chelseas from Ralph Lauren in dark brown with a similar toe (although they did have channelled soles, so were a bit different) and they fit fine.

I wish I could say that I worked through the discomfort and now wear the black chelseas all the time, but I didn't. I have them in pristine condition and am still - someday - planning to stick them up on Ebay....

Hey Duveen-- Yea, these are the "real deal"-- C&J's purchased through P. Lal some months back. I actually returned an earlier pair that were very tight on top--these were 6.5's--and got the 7's I currently have in exchange. The problem now is not one of tightness, it is that when I step forward, the break that is created in the leather at the top of the shoe kind of digs into the top of my foot. In fact, when I hold the shoe in my hands and bend it, I can see exactly how that crease collapses down into what would be my foot. Is this what you experience, or are you merely referring to the shoe feeling generally constricting at the top, regardless of whether you are walking? I wonder if the boots are designed with higher-arched feet in mind (I have low arches/ flattish feet), whereby the leather on top of the upper is better able to be displaced, thus avoiding the sensation of having it collapse inward on my feet. Quite simply, rather than being an issue of tightness, I wonder if this is now a reflection of "excess", as in too much leather in the width? Oh how I wish one or two of the shoe pros to toss in their .02 here... Â