This is my third pair of dance shoes (2nd Capezio). They all start out a little leisurely. My last two pairs quickly stretched to a comfortable point, and both had leather uppers. This couple seems to need more time to stretch (4 lessons of 1 hour. One evening of ballroom dancing). Also, 9.5 is my usual shoe size (dance shoes ordered 9.5) and I can tell which foot is larger when I put on my new dance shoes - hope this shares some information. helps.