My daughter (7yo) and I absolutely LOVE that this is an actual skirt, not a skort. And they are not easy to find. In winter, my daughter can layer heavy tights or leggings under this skirt, which she can't do with a skort- at least not comfortably. And in warm weather we add separate cotton shorts. ...Those in skorts are usually low quality synthetic fabric. The zipper is concealed, sturdy and stays up; however my daughter struggles with it and can not get it up or down by herself. A more kid-friendly zip would be better. It's luckily not a deal breaker since she can simply lift the skirt to use the restroom at school. An additional bonus to this is that her shirts stay tucked in. The skirt is TTS but is a tad on the short side. The fabric is comfortable and high quality. It washes well and only occasionally requires ironing to press the pleats. And it has all-around pleats; another hard to find feature that I really appreciate as it looks so much nicer.