To buy DS a pair of cheap school shoes?

[TheHouseofMirth]

His Clarks shoes have just died. There are only 10 weeks left of term. He is 7. My head is saying go to the Shoe Zone and buy him a pair of, admittedly unstylish, but cheap leather shoes for £7.99 but my heart is telling me that I will ruin his feet forever and should go to Clarks and pay £38.

I wish my mother hadn't made me wait until i had fully outgrown each size before buying the next....i had agony wearing a pair of fives...for a full term, before they were sufficiently worn to replace with sixes.

Oh, poor ME!

I always think that even if you buy 3 pairs of £8 shoes a year that is still cheaper than 1 pair of clarks shoes at £30.

I dont know why people get so worked up about Clarks shoes, they are not even particularly good quality imo. The fitters in Clarks shops are not great and if they dont have the correct size will try and persuade you to buy another one anyway so whats the point?
I was spending a fortune buying Clarks branded trainers for DS which he would trash in a matter of weeks, he is in Shoe Zone ones now at half the price but same quality (ie crap, but he outgrows them quickly)
Not bothering with school shoes until secondary age, as they are an unnecessary expense imo.

ps noone ever died of sweaty feet!

i just got ds shoes from shoe zone and they have lasted longer than clarkes at £30 and next at £35 even tesco tenner shoes seem to be built to last

All my kids shoes come from Tesco and last for ages.
I bought my dc some clarks last year, they were scuffed and destroyed within 2 weeks- i will not be wasting £35 in that shop again!!!

if my ds needs new shoes this close to the end of tern i buy him black trainers that he then wears out playing over the summer, i have been known to buy the dc a pair of school shoes in asda or tesco when getting shopping, their feet dont seem to have fallen off......yet

Go with your head, as long as they fit. I am a bit "once bitten, twice shy" with my DS on this one as the one time I went with cheap shoes for his mega-wide feet they gave him blisters and ended up in a charity bag basically unworn. OTOH I have never replaced shoes for looking scruffy if they still fit - DS once managed to wear holes in the tops of his shoes - they stayed like that for the last few weeks of (summer) term.

i bought ds some lovely loafer type things and they soles were flapping off within a week, the soles do seem to be the first to go for some reason

and my dc only get clarks shoes if my mum goes to the clarks outlet i usually get them shoes from m&s

Ds1 is still wearing his clarkes shoes from September. They are beginning to get a hole on the heel but do not leak and still fit so he will keep them. I have always found their shoes to wear well. I do watch them on the measuring front though as there has been a couple of mistakes. Ds1 has very thin feet so cheaper shoes tend to be very loose on him. We also do not have independent shoe shops locally so we stick with Clarks but if ds1 did fit cheaper shoes I probably would be tempted to get a pair to tide him over.

I'm really fussy about shoes (my own toes are really badly curled - not sure why but suspect from wearing badly fitted shoes as a child) but I'd be tempted to buy a pair of trainers that he can wear throught the summer holidays. There's nothing wrong with cheap shoes either as long as they are fitted correctly. Another option is to have a look at the Clarks outlet shops, I got myself a pair of school shoes (that I wear for work) for £3!

Our lot all hit the park after school in the Summer, scramble up banks and climb trees after school. They play football and go on the climbing course in school.

Last time we had a mild Autumn and the above continued into Sept. DD trashed her shoes in about 3 weeks

Cheap shoes!!

You know you'll get him new ones to wear with nice new trousers in the Autumn.

Go with the cheapo shoes. We got Clarks on the demand of the HT who insisted the Geox ones he had looked like trainers.

Anyway they were worn through within a WEEK and he is going to wear them holes and all till the end of term. If they want 'proper' school shoes they will have to put up with them falling apart and still being worn to school as I can't buy a new pair of Clarks every blooming week.

Quite shocked at all the Clarks shoes on this thread alone that have fallen to pieces.

What is going on?

I wonder if maybe they can get away with selling expensive shoes that fall to bits because as displayed by lots of people, it's drummed into us that children must have the best and Clarks shoes are the best And people find it hard to let go of an idea that has been firmly implanted into their head for years. Maybe years ago more expensive = better quality, or proper fitting for shoes = the best thing for your child but it just doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

I've given up on Clarks and now buy Toughees which are leather, cheaper and seem to be indestructible.

Ds school shoes now come from ASDA as a matter of policy

They are cheap, comfortable, they fit well and have outlasted the Clarks version which were if anything more ugly.

YANBU, OP. How ridiculously powerful is this Clarks brand and the idea that you'll hobble them in anything cheaper?

Clarks shoes are no better than Stead and Simpson shoes, Tesco shoes or frankly any shoes from any shop. They just cost more.

Clarks fitters are no better trained than any other fitters. But frankly anyone with a modicom of common sense can check their childs feet/shoes for fit.

Clarks may have been better in the dim and distant past, but they aren't now, and haven't been for ages.

DD's shoes tend to cost in the region of £10-£12 and bar a growth spurt have always lasted at least a couple of terms.

If one of my DC went through shoes within a week I would be taking them back, irrespective of where I bought them - if they cannot survive a week, no matter how "hard" the DC are on them, then they are not fit for purpose.

Unlike most independent schools (round here at least) DC's school does not mandate styles (other schools have a sheet of ~4-5 specific shoes you can choose from, all Clarks or Startrite) but they do mandate black, polishable, not trainer-like, and lace up. There is one style that we have found available that meets that requirement and fits DS's H fitting feet . It happens to be Startrite and each pair (he has had them for the last 4 years) all lasted pretty well and were still in one piece when outgrown, although DS has taken to curling his toes so I can no longer take his word for it when he says shoes still fit .

Babies and kids shoes appear to be a great source of fear and snake oil selling. Sell the fear of harming they're growth and you can get them to buy more expensive ones.

All the research I've found shows that the least shoe like, and most simply a protective cover from thorns/stones etc. is what is best for the growing feet, support around ankles or forced arches or anything like that is at best irrelevant and at worse harmful. If anyone has any studies showing the reverse I'd love to see them, DD is only just walking but from the evidence I've found, it will be little but moccasins and similar for her.

For comfort, leather or something breathable will be a lot better than something plastic, but the worst that could happen with that is athletes foot or similar.