You are fortunate, Michelle. I wore birks for the past twenty years. A couple of soft tissue injuries, weakness from spending so much time in bed, pre-surgery, and surgery really wore out my feet and even the birks hurt. Even the expensive "good" shoes didn't help. I spent over $500 on four different pairs of supposedly high quality shoes as well as paid insurance deductibles going to docs about my feet. I went to the foot doctor several times. All he would recommend was surgery, no thanks!, and/or inserts with no adjustments available and wearing a cast boot, all of which made it worse. Docs don't like to tell folks about what a pedorthic tech can do for their feet. The fellow I go to explains how shoes are made and just how much it can effect not just your feet, but also your whole skeletal alignment. I have two pair of shoes from him and the cost me about $350. Well worth it. Sorry, I know I am on a soapbox, but it almost seems miraculous what he has done for me and my feet/body!:-)

T-10
QG -30