where can you get decent, but cheap, school shoes from?

[lucykate]

we normally go for clarks, and bar growth, they do tend to last the whole school year. went for cheaper ones once, and they were wrecked pretty quickly by comparison.

so, is it false economy to buy cheap school shoes, or are there cheaper alternatives out there that really do last?

[frogs]

Get them fitted at Clarks or startrite and then buy the shoes from here. They send the shoes out the next day for about half the cost of buying them in the shop.

You can also buy a startrite footgauge off their website now, so you can cut out the whole shoe-shop trip too, if you're so minded. Clarks come up smaller than startrite, so you need to buy half a size bigger.

[SixtyFootDoll]

I have got them form Brantano before now
Avoid Next school shoes though = fall apart really quicly as did M&S ones

[flatcapandpearls]

I was going to say marks and spencer actually.

[hippopotamouse]

I've got a start rite foot guage, how do I find out what width my son's feet? They are 150mm but can't find if that is d, e, or f?

[Ixia]

There's a calculator on the Start-rite website, you feed in the measurements and it tells you the shoe size.

[hippopotamouse]

Ah thanks, I'd looked on clarks thinking they were all the same! Will check start rite then - I'm so dumb!

[hellywobs]

I don't think cheap and decent come together. We buy Clarks, although on occasion we've bought Startrite and they are better. May be more expensive but last for ages (depends on how fast your child's feet grow I guess!).

Given that children's shoes don't have VAT on them they are outrageously expensive.

[frogs]

GET THEM FROM SHOES FOR KIDS!

Honestly, I was a late convert, but am now a fan. Half the price and less than half the hassle.

[lucykate]

have been eying up to shoes for kids site. been out today and was in a shop with a huge shoe sale on. got dd a pair of startrite shoes for, wait for it....,

£10!

[SixtyFootDoll]

bargainous lk!!
Which shoe shop?

[lucykate]

we've been to grantham today, done the full monty, aldi, dunelm, then decided to go to a place further up the a1 called 'downtown', initially to look at sleeping bags in the camping dept, but they also do clothes and shoes. nipped in the kids shoe bit only to find a rack of seriously reduced shoes, with a sign up saying 'all sale shoes £10'. they only stock brands like clarks & startrite, found a good pair of black ones for dd, bargain!

[SixtyFootDoll]

You did the full monty in Oldham?
Shocking!!

[wheelsonthebus]

frogs - what an excellent website and such a better choice than our local Clarks. Just spent £32 on my five year old's shoes in Clarks .

[RubberDuck]

We bought from M&S the other day. Measured up at home using the Startrite gauge and site details - they also give advice on how to fit them yourself. M&S does normal and wide fittings AND half sizes.

£18 each and they're decent quality. Ds2 goes through a pair of shoes a term (he wrecks them, even the "good" quality ones) so I refuse point blank to buy shoes at twice the price.

[Lilyloo]

I have just oprdered dd and ds shoes from shoesforkids after having them measured got them both for half the price i would pay at local shop for startrites!

[RubberDuck]

Hmm, can you return easily (and free postage) with Shoes for Kids though?

I had to try them with a couple of different styles until we got a good fit, even though we had the right measurements. Not sure I'd be totally happy with buying off the internet without being able to see/feel/try on the shoes in question, personally.

[Lilyloo]

They have 14 day return policy but you pay postage

[RubberDuck]

Hmm, so you could easily lose the savings in postage sending back the 2 styles that didn't fit back

Happily buy shoes for myself online (but then I know my feet tend to fit bog standard shop size 5) but my kids are awkward buggers

[misdee]

wow, so fwith poastage for 3 pairs i stand to save £40.

i remember i used that site years ago, but had forgotton all about.

am going to measure the girls feet tonight in cm's, and work on their never-changing widths. i know the style of shoes that fit them best as well.

thanks!

[stealthsquiggle]

I am paranoid about shoes. I blame my DM, who would always buy us 'proper' shoes even though she could ill afford them. DS's feet are very wide and DD's are an awkward shape. I have not been brave enough to buy online yet, but DS will probably need new school shoes, and certainly needs new trainers (to stay at school), pumps (ditto), and will soon need something more substantial than the canvas trainers he has worn all summer for home. Something is going to have to give - right now I am thinking proper school shoes and cheap trainers, but in the past I have struggled to find cheap trainers that fit him width-wise.

Do M&S do width fittings in trainers, too [hopeful]?

[TigerFeet]

Thanks Lucykate, we live near the other downtown, I'll have to nip in and have a look! We go to the one in Grantham from time to time anyway, but never thought to look for shoes there.

[misdee]

i bought shoezone shoes once for dd2, who is vwery hard on her shoes and very clumsey so lots of toe scuffing, they lasted a term before they fell apart they were lovely shoes, and another girl who had the same shoes in her cxlass, hers lasted a lot longer.

so for dd2 its clarks. just seen they have her ones she outgrew at the end of term on the shoe site, so am going to get the kids remeasured this week and shoes ordered.

[hippipotamiHasLost55lbs]

I bought dd some Shoezone shoes in June as she had outgrown her others adn I really could not make them last. The shoezone ones 'peeled', as in the very thin black layer very quickly came away leaving a horrid beige/grey undercoat. No sooner had I polished (or even markerpenned) in the peeled bits, another bit peeled.
Was very glad to heave them into the bin with a jaunty 'never again'