Crocs Unisex Men's and Women's Clog

When my lined Crocs purchased last year got too worn out recently, I ordered another pair. But the same size ordered this year arrived significantly shorter for some reason. So I sent them back and decided to try these. First I went with my expected size. But they were huge (whereas the same size in the lined ones seemed to shrink this year). So I exchanged them for a size smaller. And they're a little too small. Basically, if you're in-between Croc's sizes as they currently stand, you're out of luck. But I figured I'd stick with them for a little while to see if they stretched a bit with use. They did a tiny bit, though not enough, and not evenly. And I'm not throwing new shoes in a dryer to see if I can reshape them as I've seen some people suggest. There's no reason we should have to, and they'd likely be unreturnable if you do. These are basically unreturnable anyway though, as in only a week of wearing these, the bottom is showing signs of wear under the ball of my foot. And we're talking about wearing these around the house all day. It's not like I hit concrete with them or did anything extreme. But the bottom is now noticeably starting to wear down, meaning I'll probably start sliding in these in a matter of weeks. I'm attaching a photo. It's not easy to see the wearing down yet in a pic because you can still make out the pyramid-style squares there. But you can see they're already flatter in the ball of the foot where there's less of a shadow around them, which you can see better by the toes and mid-foot where these things are still higher. Either way, I've never seen noticeable wear in just a week. There isn't much traction to begin with, so it's disappointing to see it take any hit this quickly. On top of that, the material the top is made of has caused some painful rubbing on the top of my foot, especially by the toes (the toe box is noticeably smaller than that of the classic Crocs, and they're narrower). So the shoes are wearing out quickly, and my feet are left with a burning pain. What I liked about these was the extra "squishy" feel when you stepped in them. I have chronic foot pain from an old injury, so I thought they'd help rather than make things worse. And it's tough to wear socks with these if you want to prevent that rubbing because the material has a "tackier" feel than the classic Crocs do. Combined with the narrower cut, and these feeling either too small or too large, you either can't get your foot in there with socks or you're flopping around without them. I will say the inside texture is better than those torture-device nubs in the classic unlined Crocs (I have both lined and unlined and find the latter almost unbearable barefoot). But the strap doesn't align well with the foot due to the oddly-clunky back piece that rests behind your heel. Even when the shoes are a little small, the straps flop loosely toward the bottom of my heels rather than holding the shoes on. And if you're barefoot in them, that's important because you will start to slide if your feet heat up at all. Overall, there's a lot of potential here. The feel on the bottom of the foot is much better. And if you happen to be a good fit for the size choices available, I could see them being comfortable. But if you walk much at all or don't get lucky with a perfect fit, these are a real swing-and-a-miss.