Whatever your preference, I highly recomment Spenco! These are probably one of the best deals on any product on earth. ; ) The smell is probably from whatever chemicals are used to dye them. Cute designs, comfortable, great fit. Work great but are much less comfortable than my Garrett headphones. Honestly I dont understand people that write a negative review of this shoes "because they fit smaller than their usual size". Update Love these no more pinching I just had to break them in They arrived as promised. First off let me say that the look of the product is very sleek and takes up little space. These things are awesome!