The tongue of each the boot includes a vertical seam that runs up the left and right edges of tongue. It joins the outside and inside fabrics of the tongue. The inside surface of the tongue includes a horizontal seam that joins two types of fabric that make up the lower and upper portions of the tongue interior. Where the vertical and horizontal seams meet, there is a hard nodule - presumably made up of stitching and gathered fabric - inside the jacket of tongue. As a result, there is a pencil tip sized, hard projection digging into each side of each ankle when the boot is laced up. I found an identical flaw on a pair of Asolo Fugitives and returned them to a local retailer two months ago. Same thing on the Drifters. To prevent hot spots, I'm adding an exta band of thick sock material under the points of irritation, but I expect more out of a boot that's north of three hundred bucks.
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