I  think the person who gave these shoes one star must have gotten a defective pair. My son is five and we have purchased two pairs of these shoes in the last year--because he doesn't want to wear any other gym shoes. I like that they have material so that his feet aren't on fire at the end of the day. However, he has worn them through all kinds of terrain ....so they do get worn looking compared to completely leather shoes--where you can just wipe them down.  They are nice shoes for my son with wide feet---I can't usually find wide shoes easily for him. The only down side is all of the rubber grooves in the soles. I ended up buying pair #2 after my son spent some time in the mud and I spent forever getting the mud out.....so now we have two pairs......