My son is in the cruising stage, using anything (or anyone) to pull himself up to stand, and holding himself up with his hands while he walks. Unfortunately, our hardwood floors and his socks (even the ones with little treads on them) were a slippery combination. These shoes solved that problem immediately.

It takes a little jiggering to get them on (my best method so far is: 1) open the shoe and shove it on as far as it'll go, 2) pull the tongue of the shoe toward the toddler's ankle, 3) use the tab on the back of the shoe to pull it over the toddler's heel, at which point the foot should be in all the way, 4) smooth down the tongue, and seal the velcro), but they stay on. My son had never found a sock, shoe, boot, or other foot covering he couldn't remove in under 10 seconds until he met these.

The soles are very thin rubber, so the wearer can still feel the ground and have full range of motion, which is very important when learning to walk. They probably won't hold up through extensive wear and tear, but by the time your kid is a fluent walker and running, you should probably be using different shoes anyway.