Fitting Shoes...

[floppybits]

AIBU to think its ridiculous to not be able to find any shoes to fit my 3 year old DD as she measures wider than a Clarks H? Does anyone know where you can buy wider children's shoes?!!

YANBU, but having lived with this problem for 6 years I have found few solutions. Startrite H fitting is often wider than clarks or go up a size to accomodate width. It is very difficult DD measured a 13, massively wide so we have a 1H startrite school shoes and 2H trainers to also accommodate her very high instep.
What I do find is that independent shoe shops will spend alot more time finding a style that fits well. We now buy school shoes from two feet, but even their german shoes are not wide enough.

This happened to my DS.
Startrite shoes fit wider

Startrite

Dd has very high instep and wide foot, startrite fit much better than Clarks which are too shallow.

We've got the absolute opposite problem. DD has the thinnest feet known to man. Summer isn't generally a problem, we can get sandals with velcro on, winter though...............
Last week I took her to Clarks to get some boots. The ones she wanted were only available in one width. Her feet were obviously rattling around inside but she was determined to have them. The assistant was backing her up and made stupid statements like 'of course her feet may fatten up before the snow comes'.

Good grief Kreecher, are her feet fatter yet? What a nitwit.
Someone said the Boden girls boots are narrow, so they might be worth a try. They always refund if fit is wrong.

No, no obvious weight increase although she has had a tape measure around them a couple of times. I am reluctant to order boots off the net, we live in Belgium and the logistics would be a nightmare.
OP, have you tried Ecco? Our DD lived and died in them while we lived in Thailand or Geox, both are reasonable I think.

I have a 5 year old DS with incredibly wide fit and a high instep. He doesn't even register on the clarks fitting maching thingy lol! He's a size 1 in lengh but they tried all sizes up to a 2.5 (yes really!) to get them wide enough and they still wouldn't go over his foot.

Literally the only shoes/sandals that he can wear are Geox ones which are expensive but I know his sizing so well know that I just buy on line much cheaper. I have to agree tho that Startrite are wider than Clarks...still couldn't get them on his foot but at least some of the velcro was touching whereas with the Clarks ones it wouldn't even go anywhere near.

I couldn't find any Geox school shoes in July when he grew out of his other ones so actually ordered some Noel shoes and they have been fine as well...it seems like all the continental brands which aren't actually widthed (is that a word?!!) such as Geox,Ricosta,Noel etc are good for children with either very narrow or very wide feet!

Its a nghtmare isn't it. DS is 6 and has always had wide feet, last term he grew out of his shoes 3 weeks before the end of term and we went through 2 pairs of Clarks (which gave him blisters on his little toes) (and I also learnt to NOT take him to get fitted for shoes on a Saturday when the Saturday girls were on!!). I couldn't get startrite here as we have very limited shops with even more limited sizes. I daren't buy off the net anymore.

We ended up with Hush Puppies (after a false start with a smaller size) which have removeable inner soles, which are different thicknesses so you can go thinner and thinner to get a good fit (£40 tho ). We also had to go larger and larger as he still got blisters but it was very hot here which really didn't help. So far so good this term, its cooler and the toes seem to be ok but we do also use blister stick.

kreecher lol at fattening feet!

I have come across a company Red Rocket Myrtle who cater for all types of feet they are all about the health and fitting of shoes.

They do Hush Puppies which are fantastic and as mentioned they do width fittings with different insoles as well half sizes. I know a friends little one has extremely slim feet and she bought her some Superfit shoes from Red Rocket Myrtle and they are great for slim feet.

My daughter has a high instep and I have bought a few pairs from them, they are really good quality and very flexible.

I have thsi same issue, my DS is wider than a clarks H and rarely get shoes to fit, he lives in wellies!

My daughter was measured as a 12.5 H by Clarks, but has high instep so even a 13.5 H caused her to cry in pain as it dug in (bought from ebay as no trainers avail in H fitting on Clarks website).

Ended up going to an independent shoe shop in Marlow (Doogies) who were brilliant. Got her a size 1 Skecher trainer (£40 but look so much cooler than Clarks and are keeping their looks so much better). Also treated her to some some gorgeous red Angulus shoes (expensive Danish brand - £69 but she has had such rubbish shoes for so long I couldn't resist). Both brands come up really wide (so she is actually wearing their standard fit) and it's the first time she hasn't complained about uncomfortable shoes for a long time.

Have vowed never to go to Clarks or Startrite again as neither of them ever had anything that really fitted her properly and they always look so scruffy after a week or two.

There's also a shop in Crouch End called The Red Shoes who are supposed to be really good. Also, Skechers have an outlet shop in Swindon.