I love these dance shoes, but I tried a wide for my daughters wide feet and was shocked at how wide the wide was.  I have to buy wide tap shoes and I thought that maybe I should by wide ballet shoes as well.  It was an experiment gone wrong and I had to return the wide ones as no amount of pulling on the strings was going to make them fit.  The shoes themselves are great, I just bought them in regular width instead.  This is our second pair and they look great all year.  The leather is sturdy and when I almost bought the spotlights brand I stopped because I felt that the leather would get worn through.  I like the cute flower inside as well.