What counts as a manufacturing defect, and what doesn't

A manufacturing defect is a fault in how the pair was made, not in what has happened to it since it arrived. That is the whole test. A sole parting from the upper is a defect. So is a strap pulling away at its joint, so is a flaw moulded into the footbed, and so is a split that opens with nothing having caused it. Alongside those we accept damage you find when you open the parcel, and a pair that isn't the one you ordered. Report any of it within 7 days of delivery, and once the claim is approved the courier collects free of charge and you take the replacement or the refund you asked for. Heat damage, ordinary wear, a size that doesn't suit you and a change of mind are not covered, and never have been.

The rest of this is the long version, with the examples that actually turn up on each side of that line. We put it here rather than in the small print because the alternative is you learning it on the phone after the courier has gone.

What a fault in the making looks like

The question to ask about any fault is where it came from, not how bad it looks. Four kinds turn up:

• The sole parting from the upper. Not a scuff along the join, but the two coming away from one another.
• A strap pulling away at its joint. On a toe-post style like the Ultimate or the Ardour, the post is the piece carrying the load. On a single-strap Aroma Pro or Adventure, it's the anchor at each side.
• A flaw moulded into the footbed. A void, a ridge that shouldn't be there, a patch that never took the shape of the mould.
• A shoe that doesn't match its twin. Two out of the same box that differ in the moulding rather than in how they've been worn.

A moulding flaw is worth understanding, because it explains the timing. CloudFoam is made by fusing foam granules into one sole inside a single mould. A fault of that kind is set at the moment the sole comes out and is either there on day one or it isn't. It doesn't develop.

One more thing that saves people a search: the footbed, the foam and the outsole are identical across all five styles, and only the upper changes. A sole fault on a Halo clog is the same sole fault on a flip flop, covered on the same terms. Which style you bought has nothing to do with whether it's covered.

Damage that arrived with the parcel

A cut, a tear or a squashed sole that you find on opening the box is covered, and it's a separate thing from a defect even though it lands in the same claim. If the carton looks like it took the hit, photograph the carton too. That is usually what settles whether the damage happened at the factory or on the road.

Don't wear the pair first to check whether it's fine. Once a shoe has been out on a floor, what happened to it in transit stops having a clean answer.

What if the box has the wrong pair in it?

A different style, colour or size from the one on your order is on us, and it's the most clear-cut of the three. Check the label on the box against your order email before you put them on. The range runs to 16 colourways and EU 38–46 / IND-UK 5–11, unisex, so a colour or a size close to yours is worth a second look rather than a glance. An unworn pair is straightforward for us to swap. A worn one is not, and that is not us being difficult, it's that a worn shoe can't go back into stock.

What isn't a defect, however annoying it is

Heat deformation. CloudFoam is heat-sensitive, and direct sun, a closed car, a heater, a tumble dryer and hot water will all change the shape of the sole. Heat damage is not covered. We knew about that trade when we chose the foam: a compound hard enough to survive a parked dashboard would do nothing for the floor you stand on at hour nine, and people standing still on hard floors are who these are for. Rinse cold or lukewarm, dry the pair indoors and out of the sun, and it keeps the shape it left the mould in. The full picture of what the foam can and can't take is on the technology page.

Ordinary wear. A footbed that's been stood on looks different from one out of the box, and that is the foam behaving as it should rather than failing. Once a pair has been worn for a while, nobody, us included, can separate a fault in the moulding from the wearing. That is the honest reason the window is 7 days from delivery rather than something more generous.

A size that doesn't fit. No size exchanges, and no returns because the fit isn't what you pictured. This is the strictest line in the policy, and it's the one we do the most work to make unnecessary. Every product page carries an EU / IND-UK / US / cm converter, and the four-question fit quiz asks what you actually stand on all day. If you're between two sizes, message us before you order instead of after.

A change of mind. If the pair arrives and you simply decide against it, we don't take it back. There's no blanket 30-day window here, and pretending otherwise until you tried to use it would be worse than saying so now.

How a claim runs, start to finish

1. You report it within 7 days, with photographs. From the form on the returns page or by email, with your order number. Tell us at that point whether you'd rather have a replacement or a refund. You choose that; we don't choose it for you.
2. We look at the photographs and come back within 48 hours. If what we can see doesn't settle it, we'll ask for another angle rather than refuse a claim on the strength of a bad photograph.
3. If the claim is approved, the courier collects from you. Free, from your address, with the pair in its original packaging. Nothing is collected before approval, so please don't post anything back on your own, a parcel that turns up without an approved claim behind it can't be accepted or refunded.
4. You get the outcome you asked for. A replacement is dispatched as soon as the pickup is scanned. A refund is issued once the pair reaches us and the fault is confirmed, and it goes back to the method you paid with. On a cash-on-delivery order, the cash-handling fee comes back with it.

Free reverse pickup applies on accepted claims only, which is the reason it can be free at all.

Which photographs settle a claim fastest

Five frames cover almost everything:

• The whole shoe on a flat surface, and both shoes together if the two differ from each other.
• A close frame of the fault itself, with a coin or a fingertip in shot so we can read the scale.
• The label on the box, which carries the style, the colour and the size.
• The carton, if it looks like it was dropped or crushed on the way.
• Your order number typed into the message, not only visible in a photograph.

Shoot in shade or indoors under a light. Direct sun blows out the detail on black foam, and it isn't where the pair should be sitting anyway.

Why we print this before you buy rather than after

A 7-day, defect-only policy is stricter than the blanket window a bigger shop can carry, and we're not going to dress that up. Somebody pays for a free change-of-mind window, and it is always the customers who keep their pair, because the cost of it goes into the price. There is one price across the whole range here, and this is part of how it stays there.

So the effort goes in ahead of the sale instead of after it. The size converter, the fit quiz, the weight, the heat limit and the reasons not to buy are all on the site above the button. Both our names, the address and the registration number are at the foot of every page rather than behind a contact form. And when a claim is genuine, the freight back is ours, not yours.

What we won't do is advertise a promise and then find a reason to refuse it. If any of this is unclear, ask before you order, we'd far rather answer a question than argue about one. You can read the policy in full on the returns page, or start with the shop if you already know which shape you want.

My pair deformed in a hot car. Can I claim?

No. Heat damage isn't covered, which is why the warning sits on every product page above the button instead of in the footnotes. The foam is soft on purpose and the softness is the reason it gives way on a dashboard. Keep the pair out of parked cars, off heaters and out of the tumble dryer, and rinse it cold or lukewarm rather than hot.

The size is wrong. Can I exchange it?

No, there are no size swaps and no fit returns. Before you order, use the converter on any product page and take the fit quiz, and message us if you land between two sizes. After the parcel arrives, there's nothing we can do about it, and we'd rather you knew that while it still changes your decision.

Who pays for the return shipping?

We do, on an accepted claim. The reverse pickup is free and we arrange it, so there's nothing for you to post and nothing to pay at the door. Keep the original box, because the pair goes back in it. And wait for approval before anything moves: a parcel sent back on your own initiative can't be accepted or refunded.

I found the fault on day 9. Is there anything you can do?

The 7 days run from the day the parcel was delivered, not the day you got round to opening it, so day 9 is outside the policy. You can still write in with the photographs and the order number and we'll read it, but we're not going to imply an outcome we can't promise. Seven days is short. The safest thing is to open the box and try the pair on the day it lands, which is also the day a moulding fault is easiest to spot.