These ballet slippers are extremely soft and cushiony. Isotoner really does make the best slippers of this style... The sole is thick enough to wear them for brief walks down to the mailbox, and it holds up to a lot of abuse, while remaining soft and cushiony. When they get dirty, I wash them with laundry in our front-loader machine, dry them partially in our dryer on medium, then let them finish air-drying. The cushion inside the sole sometimes bunches up a bit in the washing process, but it usually straightens itself back out again, nearly like new. One pair of these lasts me over a year & a half before the internal seams start to come apart. They are warm, but still lightweight enough to wear in the hot summer weather, and much more comfortable than going barefoot, esp. on hard floors!