I have been using Altra wide toe box shoes for years. The narrow toe box of most shoes presses my shoes together to the point that they begin to slip under the adjoining toe (little toe under the one next to it). I was using Altra Escalante in all black as a "dress" shoe but Altra stopped making the all-black version. I found these on Walmart and decided to give them a try. The first pair at size 8 seemed a little short so I returned them and got an 8.5 shoe. These have worked very well for me. They clearly copy the Altra wide toe box style. I am not sure they are Zero flat on the ground, but they are pretty close. Their significantly lower price than a pair of Altras is their appeal to me. Since I am not running miles in them, the durability is fine for me. I have no experience with how they would work for runners, but I recommend them for walkers who need the wide toe box.