My 8 year old loves these pants and wears them a good bit. He's found them comfortable. The waist looks a tad on the small side, but he said it fits fine. He's in an 8 in pants right now and these 7/8 fit him well, so I'd say they're pretty true to size. They do have pockets, which he enjoys having. The waist and the leg cuffs both have elastic in them. They've washed pretty well so far, but they do fade. That's the case with most all black colored clothing we have, though. Also, the word has a peeled off spot, so I don't know if that happened with wearing or with washing. They're not super thick, but they'd probably be on the hot side if worn in hot weather(and on the cooler side if worn on cold days). He's been happy to have them during the cooler in between days we've had, though.