...to expect to be able to buy sensible shoes that fit my child?!?!

[scarymamma]

Aaaargghhhh! It's one of my least favorite times of year. The 'let's get new school shoes' time. For the past 8 years I have had to sit and smile whilst some numpty shop assistant measures my childs feet and then gasps in amasement and then informs me that she has 'very narrow feet'. Really! Gasp! Shock! Surprise! D'oh - I'm her mother dya not think I know that? They then go on to ask 'have you seen anything you like?' From experience I now know to just say 'Why don't you just go see if you have anything to fit her, and we'll take it from there'. I reckon that 60% of the time they come back empty handed. So you have a child that has shoes that are a)worn out b)too small (delete as appropriate) and you have just been told that the shop can't help. The number of times we have been forced to buy ill fitting shoes with multiple innersoles JUST so the shoe doesn't literally 'fly' off her foot when she walks is shameful.
What is even more annoying is that the limited number of D fitting shoes are always open, pump style. My children have and will, for the forseeable future WALK to school - even in the rain. The poor thing has cold, wet feet all winter. There are shops catering to AA and AAA womens shoes - so why don't they stock children's shoes? Did these women suddenly turn 18 and their feet suddenly become narrow - NO! It was bad enough when DD was little - she's now 12 with size 7 feet, 5'10" and like a bean pole, so clothes buying isn't much fun either. She hates shopping for clothes and shoes. She see's all the other girls buying fun, fashionable things. I try to get her to try things on and she just says 'There's no point - it won't fit' and sadly she's generally right.
Sorry Ladies - just had to get it out of my system. Wish me luck for tomorrow. Ho hum - Clarks and StartRite you've been warned - here I come.

We go shoe shopping on Staurday.

Eldest Manky is straightforward usually.

Manky girl has skinny flat feet with narrow ankles. She also in toes badly. She is terrible to get shoes for.

Littlest Manky has broad flat feet, and can be akward too.

I am not looking forward to this weekend! [sigh]

Staff in the shop we go to are lovely though.

I don't view shop staff as default numpties - I have spent most of my working life in a shop. This doesn't mean that some shop staff are NOT numpties though. I wouldn't describe the shoe staff I have come across as numpties, TBH - I would say that most of the Clarks staff I have come across as simply incompetent.

I have had great success in a couple of independents and the John Lewis shoe measurers are very good near us. They also have all the brands as well as their own. I think that considering the prices, Clarks shoes are cheap looking and fall apart quickly - if I want to buy cheap shoes, I want to pay cheap prices. DS has been measured incorrectly 4 times at Clarks shops and been sent away with wrong fitting shoes once (I didn't make that mistake again). From personal experience I find that they would rather sell a shoe than measure properly. If course, this is not all of them. There is a lovely woman in the Solihull Clarks who always measured us well and didn't try to sell a shoe at all costs. But the bad experiences I have had mean that I will not buy shoes from them again.

It's a miserable time of year - I hate the trade-off - trying to buy early enough to be sure of decent stock, whilst hoping they have had their growth spurt.

I've been rejected from Clarkes lots of times over the years even for plimsolls. I took a pair of trainers back once as they were hurting dd and they refunded me with no fuss and didnt sell me another as none fitted.

I don't think here's much point going into an adult shop if you have a narrow footed child. Adult shoes in an ordinary shop do not come in narrow fittings IME.

I learnt long ago to just ask them to bring out anything they had in the H fittings DSs required. We never look at styles first.

I have narrow feet and can sympathise with the pain of trying to find something nice that fits.

Do Clarks really get commission?

We went last week to get shoes and Clarks said they were already running out. Don't leave it too long!

Got DS measured at John Lewis last week and have to say they were bloody brilliant. It's miles away from us, but I'll be going there in future I think.

Wide and narrow children's shoes here

Clarks near us are usually excellent - esp if we wait for one of the experienced staff (some have been fitting DS for almost 14 years! John Lewis are also v efficient. The best piece of advice I had about shopping for children's shoes was to avoid Saturdays as Saturday staff have far less experience.

I should also add that the assistant in Clarks often spends a long time with DD who has disproportionately narrow heels and has on occassion recommended makes not stocked by Clarks and suggested some local shops we could try instead.

I always go to independent shops selling continental shoes for mine. They tend to fit better and last longer. DD cannot wear Clarks as she is pigeon toed and their shoes make it worse.

I sympathise. I had the thinnest fitting feet Clarks did as a kid (my brother had the fattest... we like extremes in our family) and I remeber the annual me getting my heart absolutely set on a lovely pair of shiny patent leather monstrosities with bows and sparkly bits on... and then being given a choice of the only two pairs in the shop that would fit me and both were really really boring :(

If it's any consolation - my feet broadened out in time, my massively high arches dropped to a normal level and I spent my teenage years living in Doc Martens (which as school shoes go are pretty indestructible).

Having said that, as a teacher - I bear a murderous grudge against whichever idiot in the Clarks heirarchy decided putting toys in the soles of shoes was a good idea!

AngelHMum I'll give you that, it is very satisfying when you can fit the feet all other shops have failed! What I do object to however, is being used as a human stress ball.

Jareththegoblinking I don't know if clarks staff work on commisson but it wouldn't surprise me. Russell and Bromley definitely do, and its good commission too! They've been trying to persuade me to go and work for them for a couple of years now, but I prefer my nice little independent.

I have been told that DS1 "has" to wear kickers - flat footed, intoeing, trips a lot... Luckily they are pretty wide, Clarks could never fit him properly because of his weird ass hobbit feet. My chiildren clearly have enormafeet, DD was size 3 at 10 months, DS1 was a 5 at 13 months, lol.

I would look online on the start-rite website, work out which shoes come in her size - on the start-rite website narrowest is E for a size 7. Then call start-rite and find out which shops stock them.

This is a 7D
7D

Otherwise call round the independent shoes shops and ask if they have anything in a 7 for narrow fitting.

AngelHMum clarks staff are not paid on commisson although they are under alot of pressure they have targets to hit (so many pairs per hour, so if they manage to sell a pair of cicas or plimsols alongside a pair of shoes it goes towards thier target)
They do have certain shoe incentives ie- selling a certain range they may make a couple of £'s extra but this is taken back from them if they are found to be doing this fraudulently as well as receiving a warning.
As a mother myself who has worked in a shoe store i pride myself on trying my best to get a good fit as i don't want any returns against my name.

Are you sure her feet are still growing? It is normal to stop about 10/11/12 and before you stop growing height-wise. The measure in a child's shop adds a bit of length, so in adult shoes she might only be a size 6 (no growing room) and then the widths D and even E, proportional to the length, might fit better. I'm only a size 5E as an adult but in a childrens' shop measure 6.5C fitting (used to work in one, didn't force poor shop girl to measure me).

She is old enough to try shoes on herself and judge if they fit, as long as you trust her not to claim success from the prettiest shoes.

don't get me started on bloody clarkes!! Did you know they only do summer sandals in an F fitting? How bloody rediculous is that? They make a huge fuss about how important it is to get your child's feet measured so that they can wear correctly fitting shoes, and then don't provide what you need. Grrrrrrrrrr. The assistant who measure DDs feet last suggested we go and look in "somewhere like Next......but I'm not supposed to tell you that"

OHH YEESS!! I hate Clarks too for the same reasons as you Sapphire- even startrite aren't much better- their sandals are the same! If you have narrow feet then you obviously don't want fashionable shoes- these are only for the average joes.

My DD has very narrow feet and we have also had no luck with Clarks. Last year I wrote to Clarks and complained, they basically said they cater for the majority and do not stick shoes that narrow as there is not enough demand to justify the production.

We now go to an independant shop that stocks european brands which seem to come up much narrower. The staff also seem more knowledgable and willing to take them time to try lots of different styles. Only down side is the shoes tend to be more expensive.

That should say stock obviously!

Yep. You need an independent. Next week, we will be driving to a shop and hour away to pay a ridiculous amount, but we will come away with a gorgeous pair of shoes that actually fit.

I sympathise with OP in sense that my DD has size 7 narrow feet (not as narrow as D, mind) and has a long walk to school - range of options very limited certainly.

Adult size 7s far too wide

But we've always got something at Clarks (usually ballet pump with sort of bar across near ankle). Went there yesterday and they've got a new range of "narrow fit" shoes in the adult section which are apparently aimed at that age group.

Never had any problem with my local Clarks btw. They are lovely.