AIBU to insist on clarks shoes for 13 yr old dd

[ThatVikRinA22]

she says i am

i say its not negotiable. clarks do some nice trendy ballet shoe type efforts now in any case. last year hers lasted ages, were so comfy i would have nicked them for myself. they were lovely and trendy, little ballet slippers with a stone on the front with a dainty little strap across....nothing not to like and almost the same as anything you could pick up in New Look

when i was 13 i was wearing shoes 2 sizes too small. i never got my feet measured and i never got new shoes. im pretty insistent on having decent well fitting shoes for DD, who is sulking cos clarks shoes just are not kool...she is a size bigger than i am now but a very narrow fit.

aibu?

ummmmm as a mother I will say you're not but I was your daughter, and Clarks shoes at 13 and 14 are Not Cool and she will have the piss taken.

What about Kickers? They aren't much dearer, to be honest, and definately have some street cred (I think [outoftouch gimmer])

here

my dd has refused clarks since senior school.
now has office, all stars, about as expensive as clarks but quite good,

here?

YANBU. But I remember feeling very pissed off that I always had to have Clarks sensible shoes when I was a kid and all my friends swanned around in patent slip-ons with a pointy toe and kitten heel (that was what the cool kids were wearing the '80s) so I can sympathise with her your DD too.

I think my mum's line was "When you can afford your own shoes, then you can choose them until then you'll wear what I say" As soon as I could afford my own shoes I went straight in to DMs and stayed in them for the next 10 years!

Good luck!

Umm..yabu

At 13, Clarks isn't going to do it for them style wise...no way...

Maybe get her measured there but pleeeease (the 13 yo Val begs you) don't make her get her shoes from Clarks

She'll be ridiculed from one end of the school building to the other,

YABU unfortunately. I was the same with DD (almost 14) but backed down in the end! Clarks are not cool at that age and my DD would not touch Kickers either. But teens do their own thing when peer pressure is the main influence. ALL DDs friends wear slip on ballet shoes and DD does aswell. At least with cheaper shoes you can replace them often and as they get too small (although they will wear out by then!!) Hopefully sturdier shoes will come in fashion soon! My DD had good shoes for the first 12-13 years so hopefully that will outweigh anything done by wearing crappy shoes now!

whats is wrong with these ones?

[[http://www.clarks.co.uk/find/subbrand-is-bootleg/product-is-20340567 eh?!]

tbh those kickers ones she will like even less....too chunky. thanks tho!

the ones she likes are ballet shoes - i cant see the difference between the clarks ones and the new look ones (other than they will fit her!!)

plus the ballet shoes, from clarks have an extraordinary off putting strap
unlike new look which don't.

damn my link didnt work!

www.clarks.co.uk/find/subbrand-is-bootleg/product-is-20340567

"clarks do some nice trendy ballet shoe type efforts now in any case"

Unfortunately we might think they're nice and trendy....but we aren't ones to judge

thing is she is at a tiny school (400 kids) and no one actually takes the piss out of anything much - she has trendy uniform and trendy Gola bag for school....trendy everything but i cant bring myself to let her have crap shoes....

I think it may be the strap.

it's definately not cool, imo, the strap and the flower. they look clarks.

www.newlook.com/shop/womens/shoes/leather-bar-flat_199163201

whats the difference??? im not seeing it! help me!

Yanbu to insist on properly fitted shoes, but do they need to be Clarks?

Why not look at other brands and see if you can find something a bit more grown up that suits both of you?

Clarks don't tend to be the brand of choice for many teenagers these days.

YABU.

My Mum did this and quite frankly made my teenage years hell, this alongside pleated skirts when everyone else was wearing pencil skirts and no make up (it was the eighties for crying out loud!)

Please don't make her wear them. I feared school every single day because of the Clarks Monstrosities my Mum forced me into.

i agree vicar... is there another shop that has well made shoes for you both to approve of?

but i let her wear make up, she has the latest whatever everyone else has, she has trendy uniform and trendy bags and trendy pencil cases and trendy everything else

she is not a social outcast at school. she is popular and outgoing, she is the only 13 left in school with long hair - because she loves long hair, she doesnt normally mind being a little bit different.

tbh - she said she would wear the clarks shoes but only for the next year....i feel a rebellion coming on for year 10!

They are nice but not trendy enough for many 13 year olds sadly. And the Clarks brand is abit geeky to some as it seems abit childish I think, it screams that you went to have your feet measured with all the little ones and your mum!! My DD had some lovely Bootleg ones about a year ago but won't touch them now. Ask your DD if anyone else wears them, my DD said no-one does now out of her peer group.

what other shop can i go to then as a compromise? she has very very narrow feet - no high street shoes fit her. ideas welcome!

Based entirely on my experience as a child, YABVVVVVVVVVU.

Make sure she doesn't shave her legs until she's 15 too..

Just take her to Schuh and get her some rocket dogs or something...

I wasn't at a big rough school either, I was at a little high school in a good area, but teenaged girls can be devastatingly cruel. And this was 16 years ago! they are, if anything, even MORE aware of fashion now.

the ones you link to do look Clarks. the strap, the flower - a six year old would look fine in them.