in my opinion and in my pediatricians opinion, the softer and more flexible, the better. my son started walking at 11 months and only used leather Minnetonka booties and only outside until about 14 months old. then we got him sandals as a back-up for when the booties got wet.

Nothing heavy and not too grippy on the bottom. The grippy made my son trip if he didn't pick up his feet high enough. Light weight and slightly threaded will be just fine.

We just bought sneakers from babies r us