I wanted to get an inexpensive washable sneaker that I could pack in suitcase and selected this one. So far I'm very happy with this purchase, it does have arch support which is great and it does make walking much easier. The only down side is it does run a little longer than I expected but not long enough that I could have gone down a half size as most sneakers run narrow, this one is nice and is also wide enough to be considered a wide but that maybe just how keds normally are as this is the first one I have purchased in many years. I usually buy leather sneakers and not the canvas type and I know leather is less forgiving in the flexibility areas. I haven't washed them yet so I will see over time if that changes my rating. The cost is about half of what a leather pair would cost and that is definately a plus.