Some of the shoes I ordered arrived today, here are my impressions:
DC Metric:
Techy shoe, made of nubuck and mesh paneling with a partially exposed foam midsole. Outsole seems solid, with a bit more density in the area I typically wear out. Tongue has some padding, but not overly puffy like a 90s/early 2000s shoe. I like the construction, especially since the mesh portions are flexible and would presumably provide more ventilation than an all suede or leather shoe. Heel area is cut a little lower than I would like.
Sizing runs small and my usual size 10 did not work. Toes are crammed toward the front of the shoe. Size 10.5 nominally fits but the there is faintest amount of heel slip and part of the inside of the shoe is rubbing on the outer edge of my foot. Stock insoles are cheap flat green foam, nothing special. The FP 3mm Orthotic seemed to fit in this okay.
I really wanted to like this shoe, but it didn't work for me fit wise. I would still encourage other people to try it.
Emerica KSL G6:
This shoe is much more plain on the outside than the Metric. Construction doesn't seem as impressive but appears solid enough. The upper is a mix of nubuck and suede. Personally I would prefer all suede or maybe a suede/mesh combo. Heel is cut lower than I would like, but the overall fit is very good in my usual size. I would say these are true to size w/r/t my benchmark being NB and Hoka running sneakers.
Tongue is well-padded but not crazy puffy. "Spanky" logo on the tongue is just goofy. They should have just put "KSL" or something. There is plenty of volume in the shoe to accommodate a foot on the wider side of "D" width. No weird rubbing on the outside edge of the foot and zero heel slip when laced up with FP 3mm Orthotics. The stock insole is better than average with some arch support. Still kinda cheap, just like most stock insoles.
Overall I like this shoe more than I thought I would. Too bad it isn't available in a midtop, which would help the old man ankles. Still, it's good enough to make round one.
These are the other shoes I've tried so far that didn't work for me:
Nike: Ishod, Cortez, Dunks, Force 58, Blazers
NB: 440, 1010, 808
All of these shoes were either too narrow, not enough volume in the shoe, weird rubbing on outer edge of foot, or just felt like walking on bricks. If these shoes work for you, great. They did not work for me.