Girls school shoes

Ive got dd these. Yes they are a Mary Jane style but very very robust, good sole and she can run fast in them and kick balls around.

I bored the entire office silly (mostly childless men in that day) woth my ranting the last time I had to replace dd1's school shoes. I started off with a quick rant about being made to pay a fortune for fucking mary janes in winter when we have to walk muddy paths and got semi incredulous 'why don't you get better ones instead?' And then forced them to go through all the shoe websites with me to see that there are no bloody better shoes.

She did start September with brogues but wore a massive hole in the sole. I just wishshe would wear boys shoes. My dm would only take my to clarkes and think on a couple of occasions I had boys shoes because my feet were so massive those were the only ones that would fit. Because girls are dainty, dontchya know.

Seriously where's the equivalent of the black almost trainer?

Thanks for the heads up about Toughees....I had just bought dd1 new clarks shoes a size up in the sales, but even marked down they cost more than the Toughees, so now I'm really tempted to try them instead. They arent as 'pretty' as she would like, but I think she'll appreciate the heel (she's 7, so impressed by these things!) and they look like they'll last way better than anything she's had before.

When DD started reception last year I sent her to school in a pair of shoes from the 'boys' section (just plain black leather, covered the whole foot). She was really excited about her shoes, they were so smart, just like her big brother, etc.

Came home in tears at the end of the of the first week because the other children were teasing her about her boys shoes , mostly the girls I think.

She has maryjanes now, but they are just not as solid, don't keep feet as warm.

I went to sports direct for my DD recently - they had a decent range of closed trainers for girls.

I had the same issue. I get DD (5) shoes from the boys section but always tell her that they are her shoes, she is a girl therefore they are girls' shoes. It only became a problem this year but she's known as being the fastest runner in her year (yr1) and I persuaded her it's because of her nice warm girlsshoesfromtheboysection. A couple of other girls in her year have similar shoes now .
I agree it's a nightmare though and would love the situation to change (happy to write letters etc) as the girls shoes aren't warm and let in water in a way the boys shoes don't and then people wonder why girls don't want to run around as much at breaktime.

Meglet. I did the same (emailed Clarkes) last year. All their summer shoes completely impractical. I had the conversation with my girls about "where are the shoes that you can climb a tree in or have an adventure ". All of them open toes, holes all over the place, 'pretty' colours and pretty crap if you ask me.

We (sadly) bought Clarkes school shoes. DD (8) hates hers with a passion. She later said why couldn't I have had the boys shoes. Stupidly (and rather unusually) it never occurred for me to look at them. I will next year.

WAKE UP CLARKES, GIRLS WANT COOL PRACTICAL SHOES FOR ADVENTURES TOO!

...and don't get me started on girl's boots with non-profiled soles, wtf is that about?

DD now wears girls' brogues, but they're hard to find under a size 13.

Brogues are very trendy at the moment, so a trendy pair of Startrite brogues has been fantastic for DD. Just need to convince her to wear trousers instead of skirts in the cold weather.

I agree. We use public transport and it gets cold and wet and I. have to lug her boots about he case the school shoes are so pathetic.

The one shoe I found that looked more robust stopped at a 13 which is what she is now so won't be any good for the next one.

consequently the shoes look a state. She has a high instep and narrow feet so those that are cut to just by the toe are no good. She needs a t bar or a decent lace up.

I bought my dd plain shoes from the boy's section.
I want her to have dry and warm feet in the muddy season!
luckily most girls in her class also wear sensible shoes.

can't be difficult to make plain(ish) pretty closed girls shoes?

Twoleftsocks - when i was at school, very very few schools had uniforms. With no uniform dds would wear trainers to school.

My Mum was having a historic rant about this just the other day, sad to see it's still the same three decades later.

This winds me up to, I even e-mailed Clarks last year after other school mums were moaning about it. Obviously I just got a pathetic "there's no market for different style girls shoes.." response .

6yo DD had boys shoes last year. She' currently got start-rite mary janes, they came up higer than other brands. But at the first sign of this winter turning really cold or wet I'll get her a sturdy pair of boys shoes.

A couple of her friends also wear boys shoes.

Highly recommend Toughees Christine

Each time we've had them they have lasted an entire school year, despite being worn to play football in. And they still looked good at the end.

Dd has these

Ordered these for starting school in September, I was hoping her feet might have grown as Cloggs have sent me a 25% off voucher, but no such luck.

These have stood up to daily football, tree climbing and if i am totally honest, general hooligan behaviour. Toes get scuffed daily, but they polish up a treat.

This makes me mad too, we had the same issue!

I eventually got DD a pair of the (relatively plain/solid-looking) mary janes to wear with her Summer dresses, but for Winter and cold/wet we also got her a pair of boots - you can get various black ones which should be OK as uniform unless they are very strict. She also wears DS's cast-offs when doing anything particularly muddy or physical!

Still it does seem crazy that we could not find a SINGLE pair of foot-covering, rainproof actual shoes for a 5-year-old at school which weren't labeled as "Boys" or which you could get away with wearing with skirts/dresses without them looking odd. For DS we never had to get more than one pair of robust black shoes, which he could wear for school or at weekends and which covered every need - not so for the girls...

Doesn't help when your dds have huge, long but narrow feet, so boys shoes look very large and ungainly

Totally agree, it winds me up. On rainy days the dds had to wear wellies up to school, in order to have dry feet for the day and then if they played outside at playtime they got soaked. ds was fine, his shoes were waterproof.

Trouble is, no-one wants to be odd one out, so dd won't wear different shoes form everyone else. (sigh)

Clarks do a couple of better styles, one has a closed lace front, so useless until they can do laces.

I have noticed though that a lot of girls at dds school wear black boot sof various types in the winter. My only hesitation is that boots aren't very comfy for sitting cross legged on the carpet.

I know others buy on-line, but we usually have to try on 4/5/6/ pairs to find a comfy fit, so no idea how you do that on-line.

dd has a pair of boys shoes and she loves them. Inspite of being 5 years old she doesn't seem to care.

Also in terms of being boys shoes, I just told my DD they weren't boys they were 'Winter' shoes so her socks don't get wet in the snow and rain, she accepts this. Buying online probably helped as we didn't look in the 'boys' section of a shop. The goes ones aren't obviously aimed at boys with footballers or spiders etc on them just plain black leather.

We buy Clarkes boys shoes. They do at least one design which is plain leather with Velcro. Nothing to trainer-y or with 'boy' style embellishments. Fairly unisex, but tough and fully enclosed, as is needed in this weather.

My DD (5) took a chunk of leather off her Clark's Mary Janes on the first day of school and by the end of term they were completely trashed. I hate that girls shoes are so impractical so brought her these just before she broke up Geox. They are awesome, a nice thick cover on the toe so they don't get scuffed, warm and waterproof and DD loves her 'Winter' shoes. They may not look good with skirts but she only wears trousers anyway.

Startrite and ecco do closed / non-mary jane styles for girls.