I've worn skate shoes most of my life. The shoes I used to skate with had an average lifespan of only about 3 months, so I would constantly buy cheap shoes because I knew they would be trashed soon. After I gave up skateboarding, I found my skate shoes to have about a 10 month lifespan before the soles became trash. With these shoes, the soles are built to last. If you're sick of buying skate shoes on a regular basis, try these shoes out. They are kind of tight at first, but after they stretch for a few days, they fit nice and snug. They feel really good to walk in because of the impact fx. I also delve in parkour, and dropping say 10 feet in these babies hurts substantially less than with the standard skate shoe. And since they're skate shoes, they work extra well to keep your foot stuck to the board. The designs all look and feel really nice. The only thing that might push you away from buying these shoes, is that in person these shoes at a glance look more like track shoes than skate shoes. I'm not bothered by this at all, but some kids want to be sure people know they're wearing skate shoes to be "cool", or "different". If you like wearing skate shoes just because, these shoes are definitely worth upgrading to.