Review by Erin:

I try to buy the Umi brand shoes whenever they are seriously discounted (which is often on amazon). These are great little shoes. They are well made, cute, have incredibly flexible soles that still provide excellent traction (for both crawling and walking) and they stay on. There isn’t much more you can ask of an infant/toddler shoe. They do tend to run a bit wide compared to many other brands but this works well for our daughter and it should work well for most babies in cooler weather when you put them in thicker socks.

We’ve been passing along the ones our daughter grows out of to two other little girls and they’ve held up through all three babies incredibly well. Periodically I find a loose thread but it doesn’t seem to damage the integrity or appearance of the shoes and I just cut them off. We generally buy the all leather styles but we did purchase the black velvet shoes and they are designed so that the velvet doesn’t show wear. All of the places that tend to rub are leather. The lighter colors of leather do tend to scuff and show dirt but you can clean them fairly easily if it bothers you.

We’ve purchased other shoe brands for our daughter but so far they just haven’t compared in quality and functionality (even if they are cute).

Review by Adrianne Mccarter:

I wrote the review below for another pair of umi shoes. The only things I would add to this review for these particular shoes is that I thought they were red suede but they are actually red velvet, the edges seem to be a little crisper than the brown and pink T-strap umis and the elastic back can be harder to navigate when trying to fit a tensed-up little foot into them. Otherwise, they are pretty much the same and we really like them. They do seem to be a tiny bit roomier than the other shoe, too.

I really like this shoe. It’s just wide enough and deep enough for my daughter’s foot. They could be a little roomier, but we’re pushing the size a bit, too. She doesn’t have the chubbiest baby foot that I’ve seen so I might not chance it for a really chubby foot. The curved form of the shoe really makes walking in this shoe vs. a shoe with a flat sole much steadier. She nearly glides with these on and she can run without tripping and falling which doesn’t happen in her other non-Umi shoes. The velcro has good integrity. The padded back is comfortable. Nothing pinches or pokes. The combination of rubber nubs and leather on the sole made me question buying these but it works out just fine. The leather has worn a little but not much in proportion to how much my daughter has worn these… plus the wear is on the bottom where it doesn’t show and doesn’t impact the shoe’s performance or durability in any functional way. My only major wish is that they came in another size larger. I got the biggest size available and my daughter is pushing the size limit at 18 months old. I’ll probably keep putting them on her until they seem uncomfortable but that’ll be in the next few months I’m sure.

I’d like to have this curved sole type shoe until she’s 2 at least. I have been wearing MBTs strictly since May of 09 and they have the same “rocker bottom” sole. I’m amazed at what wearing the MBTs has done for my posture and core strength and overall balance to say nothing of taking a lot of pressure off of my knees and hips. I’d like to find more kid’s shoes that have this curved “rocker bottom” sole. It seems to make so much sense developmentally.

I highly recommend these.

Review by Becca G.:

We bought these shoes for my daughter as a follow up to her first pediped soft soled shoes. We needed a little more protection and durability for walking outside.

The soles are a very soft rubber and very flexible. I think they are great for beginning walkers. The only reason I gave these a 3 is because the leather on the ridges around the stitching scuffed badly and immediately. So they looked pretty tattered after just one wear.

You can’t beat the price though! All-in-all a good value.

Review by Camwill:

This shoe is absolutely gorgeous on my daughter’s feet. My only problem is that it fits a bit close. She still wears 6 in some shoes comfortably, so I bought the 7 and they just fit. Dont think she will have a lot of wear out of it but I would definitely buy another if it gets too close.