In the first 2 pictures, that happened to mine and I glued it back down with epoxy and it's still OK after several months. It's purely cosmetic and I can see from MC88's pictures that stitching has been added in that area to prevent peeling of what appears to me to be some kind of mylar film, so I believe it shouldn't be a concern for new owners. Here's a picture of mine without the stitching. And a picture of MC88's skate with the new stitching. In the other two pictures it looks like damage from other skates during play, which would happen to pretty much any other brand of skates. I mean just look at the condition of his TUUK holder to get an idea of what the boots were probably also subjected to. Anyway, I've had mine since last summer playing a couple times per week and they're as solid as on the first skate.