Strap. Didn't know what it was for at first.These were perfect for an encanto dress up day at school. Plus the comfy and ease of putting on as well as the soft shoes will be a pair of shoes that get worn out before getting grown out of. Little one LOVES ❤️ them.They run a little bit big. She was fine if she had tights on with them.These shoes are super cute! My daughter LOVES them and they fit her really well. The quality of the shoe seems pretty good and they have held up to quite a bit of use. I love the cute little bow that is on the front of the shoes. It really dresses them up! One thing to note is that for some reason they decided to make the elastic strap that helps hold the shoes on not attached to the shoe. It is a random extra strap that wraps around the whole outside of the shoe to help hold your shoe on.......it is just annoying and it quickly gets lost. Really they 100% should have just sewn the straps onto the shoes!!My daughter just turned 7 and loves these soft white pleather shoes. They fit perfectly.Because they are white, I had to explain to her that these are special occasion indoor shoes not play shoes. Lunch, movies, mall, church, weddings but not playground friendly.I love the gold tipped bow. They are perfect for summer. They do have gold Chinese writing inside and aren’t boxed so I wouldn’t give these as a gift personally but that’s just me.These are cute Mary Janes, and my daughter has been wearing them to church all summer. They've held up really well, and she's always excited to wear them.The soles are rubber (or some similar material) with great grip! The shoes also come with elastic bands that you can add to keep the shoe on better. I have mixed feelings about the straps because I think having them wrap all the way around the shoe looks kind of funny. But my daughter does like wearing the straps (they're starting to stretch not because of bad elastic but just because she's been pretty rough on them), so it's nice that they're an option. And since they're completely removable, you don't have to use them all the time (or at all).Overall, I like these shoes, and they seem like they'll hold up for when my second daughter is ready to wear them too!My daughter likes these as a nice simple dress shoe. They fit her well. As a dad, I don't understand the white bands that look like straps (but have no purpose).But that doesn't really matter to the shoe itself.My daughter has been wearing these shoes for some time now and they have held up great. Soft, easy slip on, correctly sized, and they have lasted..can't list any negatives on this pair of kids shoes.