School shoes

[MsMiaWallace]

I know asked 100's of times but which are the best school shoes?

Do Clarks still get the vote or is there another brand worth investing in?

DDs Clarks shoes lasted her all last year. I've heard Startright & Lelli Kelly shoes can be good too though.

Aaaargh. School shoes!

I have a 6yo DD and 9yo DS, both with reeeeaaally narrow feet. Supermarket brands just don't fit them. We've always ended up going down the Clarks route previous years and to be fair they have always lasted a full school year.

Getting the shoes is a nightmare though. They never have the narrow fittings in store and charge up front to order them in for you. Last year I took DC to get measured then paid to order shoes in, had to take more time off work to go and collect/get them fitted... and the pre-ordered shoes didn't fit! So then had to go through the whole process again.

This year I got them measured at Clarks and they didn't have anything to fit in stock and refused to order a selection of styles in the right size (without me paying for several pairs up front). So I left with no shoes, and no plan!

Considering ordering from Brantano (discount store that stocks various brands of width-fitted shoes) and hoping for the best!

My DC have always been ok with Clarks.

Clarke's here
Tried brantano/top shop/office/river island
Clarke's most comfortable and long lived

I've always found startrite better than Clarks.

However Ds shoes were £63 last year and they didn't fit by Christmas.

I bought m and s ones and I have been really pleasantly surprised. They do wide fit and half sizes and are £30. They lasted from Christmas to July and they took a battering.

I've just got him another pair for this year.

If your DC has feet like my eldest you may just have to go with what fits. She has ended up with Hush Puppy leather shoes (ouch! ££) and Lelli Kelly plimsoles (also ouch!) as nothing else fit that wasn't patent . Surprising as I can usually rely on Clarks to fit her.

The only shops within a half hour drive from our house that do width fittings are Clark's (there are 3 Clark's shops near us, one is an outlet). So we have to go to Clark's to get shoes that fit as dd1 has ridiculously wide feet and dd2 has teeny tiny narrow feet. I'm glad we've got the outlet we can go to because even there it's £25+ for each pair but that's better than the £39 the shoes dd2 got are supposed to be in the normal shops.

I gave up on Clarks years ago for girls shoes. Three consecutive pairs broke on the strap. I going them flimsy. Start time are much better IMO. Last year mine had Doc Martens and they were brilliant. Sturdy and lasted all year.

I gave up on Clarks as they didn't survive my DS's slow growing feet. I resent shoes falling apart and having to replace them with the same size and this happened several times.

I get Geox. They survive a full school year plus frequent use out of school. They cost about the same too.

M&S are a good budget option.

Find a local independent shop, they are usually much better at fitting the shoes to the child. My DD has narrow feet and we have found a brand called Ricosta have been really good. Would never have found them without the expertise of the shop though.

Always bougth clarks/startrite until we got DD first school shoes from clarks. Within a week they were scuffed on both toes and, despite my DH polishing them weekly, they looked dreadful from the first scuff! Bought similar style from Asda as interim pair and 10 months later they still looked new and a fraction of the price! Good soles too. M+S also good.

Our ds's have found that Geoxx last the longest.
Sometimes we get a full year out of them but it depends on when their feet grow.
We have a great, local independent shop where we get the choice of several brands. I'd recommend visiting a similar shop if you have one within a reasonable distance.

I took dd into Clark's today she picked out a pair but they didn't have her width in them so they have them ordered and should be ready to collect on Tuesday. Yes I had to pay upfront and I know they are not cheap but I buy Clark's because they last all year and I want the best for dd feet. One year I was short of cash and bought a cheaper pair from another shop I thought that's great I've saved about 25 quid but hey ho I ended up buying about 3 cheaper pairs that year and it cost double what it would of cost had I gone to Clark's in the first place! Lesson learned!!

kissmelittleass The thing with pre-ordering from Clarks is that not all their styles fit the same as each other. So your DD may have measured 11D, for example, but when the pair of shoes in that size come in they may well not actually fit. I frequently find that they measure my kids' feet then end up going up or down in length or width to get a good fit in the actual shoes...

Best school shoes for younger ones I have ever bought were Ricosta ones from a local independent children's specialist shoe shop that sadly closed down a couple of years ago.

My DC are older now and loving Doc Martens for school shoes. They are expensive but they so much more hard wearing than Clark's etc.

Clarks shoes have never lasted my dc more than a term, and their sizing is totally inconsistent, which makes a huge mockery of their fitting system.I also had a huge falling out with them when they refused to sell my 2 yo DD "boys" shoes on the basis that boys and girls shoes are apparently different shapes (at 2????). (As it happens, DH is a trained shoe fitter and says that this is bobbins).

Clarks are crap. Honestly they have never measured my kids feet correctly. They have been wring every bloody time. Wouldn't ever get my kids fitted at Clark's.

Go somewhere like John Lewis or clinks where they have a range of shoes. Dms and kickers are nice and sturdy.

Wen I say Clark's didn't last a term, I mean before falling apart, soles worn through. velcro form off, stitching broken etc. In 5 years of school, this has only ever happened with Clark's (dd and ds).

For relatively "cheap" shoes, I have been very impressed with M&S.

DDs are Doc Martin's as they are sturdy and have lasted over a year. Clarks girls shoes do not look like you could climb a tree in them! DS's shoes are from.clarks and they look strudy enough to last a year.

Geox are great but I have to order online which is risky.

Always found Clarks lasted fairly well. The sizes are strange though so you get the child measured and they use that as a starting point

We generally go with geox shoes, we have an independent shoe shop that carries a range of brands, but not the European ranges like ricosta.
I’ve found Clarke’s shoes flimsy and they fall apart and the sizing really inconsistent.

We got Tesco own last year and they lasted the full year. That was after we got some from Clark's and the stitching came out within 3 weeks and the person at the counter was reluctant to refund/replace.

We always buy ours from Sainsburys. whenever we've had Clarks they've fallen apart pretty quickly.

Second the dr martens recommendations. Got dd a pair in sale last summer and they’ve not only got all year due to slow growing feet with a weekly polish they looked as good on the last day of term as on the first - and Dd is very hard wearing on shoes generally!