Cat Footwear Men's Work Boot

I have been buying and wearing these Caterpillar second shift soft toe 8 1/2 Wide boots for at least the last 15 years and have loved them. They have always taken a week or two to break in , but have always been somewhat comfortable and fit well right out of the box. The pair that I just bought on Amazon was extremely tight and all the material , the leather, and the collar were hard as a rock. It was so uncomfortable that I immediately took them off and checked the size written on the tongue of the boot, assuming they sent me the wrong size by mistake. They didn't, it was an 8 1/2 W . I don't know what Caterpillar has done but it was a big mistake and a very noticeable change in quality. The only difference that I noticed was that they were made in Vietnam instead of China, so maybe the different factory had different machines with different metrics to size the boots. I don't know and don't really care because I'm not going to keep on ordering bigger sizes and hope that they will fit right. Besides like I said, they were hard as a rock , I've never bought boots with leather that hard and inflexible. I was extremely disappointed because I have always loved these boots and love the way they look as well. So, I was faced with the chore of finding a new boot that was equivalent to what these used to be and hopefully not spend a fortune in doing so. I tried the walmart equivalent and it was very mediocre, did not have stitching to the sole and didn't look that great. Then I just purchased a pair of Wolverine floorhand 6" soft toe boots on Amazon which was truly a wide boot for my wide feet and felt great right out of the box, so I guess I have found my new boot. Hopefully , they will hold up as well as my old Cats. Time will tell. They also have a good look like the Cats do. I hope this is helpful to those in the same predicament!!!!