These shoes fit well. We haven't had them very long, so I can't say anything about how fast they wear out. The strap design is nice - instead of a stretchy single strap, it actually threads through a piece of plastic that has the velcro on it. It's hard to describe, but you can see it in the main picture on the Amazon page. The effect is to have the strap actually act like lacing, which works well. The only problem is that since the "lacing" is not stretchy, you don't get the best result. When you pull on the end piece to latch the velcro, the plastic piece usually has to be moved a couple of times to get the lacing tight. If the lacing part were stretchy, it would work much better. My son had some shoes when he was little that had this lacing scheme with stretchy lace and they were great for getting on a little kid's squirmy feet. Too bad New Balance didn't make these that way. The lace is the only reason that I gave it four starts. It's just a pain.My daughter loved the look of these shoes and they fit well; however, I wonder how durable they are and how long we will have them. As other commenters have noted, the only thing that closes the shoe is one strand of the rainbow ribbon. A velcro tab hangs off and slides along a single strand of the rainbow ribbon. The velcro tab connects to one side of the show and is the only closure for the shoe. If the ribbon breaks, there is no way the shoe will stay closed. The picture is a bit "misleading" as you assume that all of the rainbow ribbons are used to close the shoe. In reality, the top most ribbon (the blue and green one in the image used at the time of this posting) is the only thing that opens and closes.Our 4-year-old has extra wide feet. These NB sneakers are the best for him. This is our third or fourth pair and we keep ordering because the toe-box is really wide enough for wiggle room. Other sneakers we've bought labeled as XW were much narrower than these.My only complaint is that the stitching at the toe wears down very easily, especially on a toddler/preschool boy who is always crawling on the concrete and dirt. But even if the stitching gives, the shoes wear fine. These have a plastic loop than holds the laces to the velcro fastener. It's different than previous versions of this shoe. So far (2 months) it's wearing just fine.Overall, we love these shoes and would recommend!According to the kiddo, it's comfy (which is not easy to hear from a kid with wide feet) and easy to put on and off, but he's a but upset that the blue "laces" are fraying. I thought that it was because of the velcro touching the material when you take the shoes off, but it doesn't see to be because even the top of the laces, where the velcro doesn't touch, is fraying. I guess the friction from the hem of the pants is causing the issue. It makes the shoe look a little bit more worn out than it should, but definitely not a big deal. I'd buy it again and recommend the purchase.As other people have stated the stitching quality is poor. After just 2-3 weeks the stitching on the Velcro strap came undone as well as the stitching on the front toe. I contacted New Balance and they offered to replace the sneakers if I shipped them with a tracking number back to them, which I did. They initially told me it would take several weeks for the sneakers to be reviewed before approval to send me new sneakers, but I received them less than 2 weeks later including the time it took me to ship them there. Although I am not happy to have had to send them back to begin with, I am very pleased with their customer service and willingness to replace the sneakers. New Balance is one of the only companies that makes XW sneakers for young boys and this is the first time I have had an issue after many years using them.I have bought this style number many times for my special needs daughter. However this latest update with the straps is much more diffecult for her to use. It is more like a piece of ribbon then in the past and it is not connected the same way. For me as the Mom I really want her to be as independant as she can be, and with this pair of shoes she has to ask for help...at $50 a pair she is kinda stuck till a new pair is needed again, and I will have to do better research in the future. On a very happy side note: She was very excited to see all the beautiful colors and how bright in color they are.My son wears an extra-wide shoe, so we have bought several pair of New Balance for him. This is the first that fell apart within the first couple of wears. I had already returned them once because we needed a larger size, so my husband thought we'd just glue it back on and be okay. The velcro closure also doesn't fit as snug as I would prefer. I thought it would be a good option so he could put them on himself, but he still needs help getting them tight so they won't fall off. Again, I have really liked past New Balance shoes, but this style was not quite as sturdy.I wish I read the reviews for these sneakers more carefully before I purchased them. Within 3 weeks of wearing them to school only, they are destroyed.The Velcro piece came off one shoe & the toe stitching came completely apart. I also contacted New Balance and was told that they must have fit wrong & that my son must drag his feet. Not so about the fit and regarding the toes, sure, he's a kid - but this same kid has worn different New Balance styles in the past and they've lasted a LOT longer. In all, I do not recommend these.I certainly don't expect them to replace every pair of shoes that my kid wears out - but after reading the reviews here, you can see that there's something going on with this style. Unfortunately, my son has wide feet so there aren't a lot of choices because I think the quality of NB has gone downhill and my experience with customer service was lacking.UPDATE: I want to be sure that I was clear - it's New Balance's customer service that is lacking. Amazon was wonderful & is letting me return the shoes for a refund.