Customer Reviews Merrell Encore Gust

I'm a surgeon on my feet for hours and hours at a time. I finally wore out ?7 year Merrels. These are equal and perfect for the operating room.

I bought my first pair of men's Encore Gust in 2002, just after my lumbar fusion surgery. They were the most comfortable, shock absorbing, non-slip shoes I had ever owned. Best of all, I could just step into them without the pain of bending over. Since that first pair, I've bought a total of 4 or 5 more pairs, the last of which was the very last pair of browns on Merrell's website (luckily, they were my size). I wear these year round, regardless of the weather or temperature, so imagine my reaction when I went to buy a new pair last year and discovered that they'd been discontinued. I was not only disappointed, I was deeply upset and a bit scared of what I'd be able to replace them with. I really wish the Executives at Merrell would put on a pair of the mesh Encores (Breeze?) and take a morning stroll through a dew covered yard... are your feet wet yet? Now, get them dirty and try to clean them. I saw the Encore Gust 2 - just horrible: hideous stitching for no apparent reason, an inner collar that looks like the hook side of velcro and a horrid, pebble grain leather that's difficult, if not impossible, to polish. I'd generally polish my brown Encore Gusts 4 to 5 times during their "presentable lifespan." After that point, I'd buy a new pair, keep the old pair to work on projects where I knew my new pair may get dirty, scuffed or damaged and throw out the previous old pair. I've ALWAYS got two pairs to wear depending on what I'll be doing. Now, for whatever reason, Merrell has decided to discontinue the most comfortable shoe ever made in favor of some poorly conceived replacement, the Encore Gust 2... I'll pass. It seems like some Executive decided to dump the whole concept of slides and focus on an unlimited number of Jungle Moc variants. Here's a little secret: not everyone wants elastic stretch panels in their shoes. Also, there's no way to just step into them and go. It appears I'll be spending my money on Dansko Wils for the foreseeable future. They're pretty close to the Encore Gust, just a lot more expensive.

Love these shoes. Even great shoes loose their support after awhile so I will be buying these again once that happens with these.

This is my third pair of Merrill shoes. They are so comfortable. I wear them every day and everywhere.