My son is very, very hard on his shoes.  As in, he's a 4 1/2 year old who likes to often drive his cars on the ground across the concrete, dragging his shoes underneath him.  I ordered these as a replacement for when his current pair are beyond use, which will happen soon.  I love these shoes.  I color is great, it doesn't fade, doesn't show much dirt (despite my son playing in the sand at school every day), goes well with his navy school uniform pants, they are easy to get on, and he loves them.  I am a very loyal Pediped user.  I love that their shoes fit for a longer period of time because of the 1/2 size insole.  So, buy a 1/2 size bigger.  And use it. Their shoes are great.  Even though my son's have fallen apart, ANY pair of shoes would have, it was definitely not a manufacture defect, or I wouldn't have purchased another pair!  Love them, and plan to keep buying them for my son, so long as Pediped keeps making them!