UPDATE: I was hoping this was an anomaly as a pair of these black ones I bought after the brown pair but before the brown pair failed looked a little better but they didn't split use after 50 days. They're absolutely not worth $40 unless you can get more wear and tear out of them. I'm sorry I can't give these zero stars. First review: I really liked these shoes when I first got them - their very deceptive leather-like appearance (some people assumed it was leather) is great for people who can't wear leather due to allergies, but don't want to be obsessed with the usual faux-plastic look of most shoes, which are made entirely of synthetic materials. However, less than a month after purchase, she only wore it to work in the office, the seam along the instep. The stitching didn't fail but stretched unreinforced vinyl, now the same stitching parted on the other side as well. Anyone who has ever worked with vinyl would have thought that its unreinforced strip of 2mm thickness would withstand the stresses that shoes are normally subjected to. It's just a terrible design flaw. I also just missed the 30 day return period (it's 37 today) so I'm stuck on this pair of shoes that look great, are really comfortable and started falling apart within a month of buying them.