Sharnell II Waterproof Knee High Boot

After a comprehensive search of every boot available on the internet, I decided nothing would be as good as the Sofft Sharnell II for me (on paper at least). I was looking for the following: (a) long length, (b) adjustable lace in the back, preferably, (c) wide calf, (d) leather or natural suede/nubuck for stretch and strength, (e) lots of color selections, and (f) low heel and wide toe box. I looked for about 2 months and this boot was the one I kept coming back to. It had gotten a lot of great reviews, and some of the iffy reviews were nothing that scared me, as far as someone with my particular needs, except for one review which said that the laces weren't working right for a wide calf. I felt that if that were true, the laces would be something I could easily deal with. Yes, they were an issue for me, and yes I dealt with and tackled that issue. So I'm ready to give a review that hopefully will help you with a wide calf or for fit concerns over fit over the very long calf. I'm 5'4" and 180 lbs, and I wear a size XL/16. I am pretty muscular under my weight due to years of biking and skiing on my short legs. So I was pretty sure I would need to work the laces. When I got the boot on my feet, I had to take the laces out almost 100% and re-lace them to even get the zipper half way. I got about to the lower calf muscle and ran out of lace, but I left the top third open and noticed they would zip fine, but the tongue in back would have to be tucked in very securely left and right sided when I zipped so no skin would show through. So I went to the local boot repair store and got the longest laces I could, 81" but in brown nylon. Later, I removed the Sofft lace and held it up against the new nylon lace--surprisingly, the boot's lace and the new lace were about the same length (82" probably?), though the Sofft boot's lace was a matte cotton look. Anyway, using both laces, I re-laced the whole boot and realized a few things as I tightened here and loosened there and got everything the best it could be and ultimately became happy these were going to be my next go to boots for the rest of my life, probably. 1. Sofft's laces are definitely a detractor, even in the standard picture, they do look cheap. Though I have the length right through gerry-rigging the nylon laces and Sofft's laces, I'm probably going to buy some round 3mm leather cord at an online jewelry and craft retailer to give this boot the lace it deserves. A boot this pretty should have beautiful laces, and not the ordinary ones that Sofft gives you. The devil in the details, I am definitely going to look forward to getting laces for these that will do these beautiful boots justice. 2. I have a 18" calf, and there is definitely room if you get extra laces to work these around yourself. As far as some of the reviewers concerned they bag a little at the ankle, I'm not sure that is a problem if you are persistent in smoothing out the leather around the ankle. It even worked for me, with my smaller ankles and wide calves. 3. There is an obvious problem in using longer laces in the back, which is that the front section of the boot shaft will not budge, but ONLY the back part of the shaft gives way, from the two sides of the back shaft and the tongue plus the laces, you do kind of have to make sure that the entire shaft consisting of all two back and front panels and the tongue fall in place and give you the right coverage to really cover yourself. It worked for me, but I can see there being some customers forgetting (especially with the softer nubuck) to smooth the entire shaft of the boot around the front, back and sides, and forgetting to smooth the tongue and getting an uncomfortable feeling. These boots are very comfortable, so keep patting them and moving the parts until they feel like a second glove. You might have to unfold the zipper backing or flatten out the tongue here and there , so don't give up.