To want my son with e fitting feet to get something other than dinosaur shoes or black and white trainers?!!!

[TopsysMum]

I have three boys. The youngest thankfully too little to need shoes (yet...).

The eldest is seven. And if I turn up to Clarks (Startrite not the easiest brand to buy round here) one more time and get told the only options are black and white trainers or frigging dinosaur shoes as a non school shoe I think I might scream.

How many more colour ways can they make in that dinosaur shoe? I think I've had every single one for six years!

And today, they have a new trainer. Orange on it. Wow! But both boys want something different but they don't want the same shoes (again...).

Do a Clarks not realise that although the narrow fitting child is in the minority they don't want a different permutation of the SAME shoe for years on end? That older children don't want to wear the same shoes as their younger siblings! Rah! Rant over. Sorry ;-).

E is pretty narrow. I get the opposite. Two H fitting boys only ever fit those pasty type shoes. I feel your pain.

Also with three boys I can never get things (drinks cups, toothbrushes, etc) in 3 different 'boy' colours. Hate stereotyping but none of them will accept pink. If I get different brands, that's fine, but one type is always 'better' so they all want the best, which invariably comes in three versions, one of which will be pink.

Another on with e fitting boys here. We generally get a choice of one pair of shoes no matter how big the shoe shop. Some e's are also too wide for their ankles. Try an independent shop that has a few European shoes stocked, they have an odd narrow pair.

French and Sons have always been very good with my D/E width fitting daughter. It appears they do mail order, though whether or not that includes children I don't know.

Converse are good for narrow feet

Fucking Clarks. DS1 has a C/D fitting. Last time I went into Clarks they went on and on about their superior fitting,measured him at D, said "oh we do some in an E but not in this store ... let's try an F."

Hush Puppies, Superfit and Noel are fitted with insoles so they actually, like, fit. But you can't get those in Clarks, so we don't go there.

I have the opposite problem DS(5) is an H+ width and is currently between a full and a half size, poor kid had to try on 11 pairs of shoes in a packed clarks on bank holiday Monday before we found a pair that fit, we had to go up to the next full size so he has slight clown shoe with too much toe space.
He hates the shoes too
Stupid shoe fiasco

I find this with wide fitting shoes as well. DS is an F fitting, when we went in last week the shoes they brought out were bloody horrible! I didn't even get DS to try them on but came home and ordered him a lovely pair online, they seem to have a much wider range on the website.

It's understandable I supppse as lots of different size and width variations would mean shops having to stock hundreds of pairs. I do find boys shoes and clothes quite unimaginative a lot of the time.

DD is an E. Hush Puppies are great. Also Brantano will do their best to get shoes that fit (better than Clarks in this respect). Buy some insoles?

DD is a D or E width. Try the brilliant Superfit shoes - they're great for her and more flexible soles than Clarks anyway.

How can an E be narrow but an F wide? Wtf is average then?

I empathise. I used to have to get my shoes specially ordered in when I was a child.

Have you tried a local, independent shoe shop? We never had any luck with Clarks.

My Ds is an E and we haven't had any problems in our local independent shoe shop - they're not cheap though! I wouldn't touch Clarks with a bargepole, awful reputation for fitting and their shoes are ugly.

Mine is a G and between half sizes at Clarks so I sympathise.

Last time we went to Clarks in June he tried on 5 pairs of Doodles shoes, none of which actually fitted. In the end I bought him a pair of Nike trainers and some sandals from Sainsburys which both fitted better than the efforts at Clarks.

Maybe look beyond Clark's for out of school schools? Have you tried marks and spencers, H and M or the supermarkets? Lots of choices out there

Supermarkets are a complete no go as they're all too wide. (He actually measures as a d).

We've got about a 40-50 mile round trip to an independent shoe shop (I do try when we can!)

Should have added problem is compounded by the fact he has to wear insoles prescribed by podiatry too. Bah!

Good to know it's not just me that ends up wanting to rant

Ps will try Hush Puppies and Super Fit. Thanks for those ideas. Swinging near to John Lewis today so will try them too. Got put off nearest independent shop as ds1 had horrendous blisters from the Ecco shoes we bought...

DS1 is an E and we've never had problems. Maybe our local Clarkes has a better selection for some reason. Although we've never gone looking for anything too exciting.

DS2 is an H, so no doubt we will have fun and games with him.

You have my sympathy about the inserts. I have just had an insert made after 39 years of everyone insisting my back is the problem, and finally seeing a specialist who realised it was my entirely different length legs!

Unfortunately this resulted in an insert so big that it wouldn't actually fit in any shoe in existence. That foot is normally a three, and the insert pushed it up to an eight, and the shoes still wouldn't fasten. I eventually found a pair from Ecco, but they gave me massive blisters as well. I went back to the hospital who just chopped a large chunk of the bottom and said 'try again.' I did query how that was going to work, given that the original size was to correct the leg length difference, but they seemed a bit confused....

Clarks are absolutely rubbish for narrow feet, don't even bother. Their e fit is way wider than start rite or similar and, as you say, they do about 2 styles in an e. Try an independent shop that sells start rite plus other makes, ricosta and goes have worked well for us in the past. The staff should know also which styles would be good for narrow feet. I have 4 with narrow feet - ranging from c to e fit!

If you are at either end of the scale the choice will be limited. DD s wider than an I fitting and has been for years usually we find a single pair of shoes that fit no choice.

DS is an I! Clarks don't even do that wide. They wanted to put him in bigger and bigger shoes to try to get them wide enough and he kept falling over. The shop assistant kept saying 'clumsy little thing isn't he?' Err yeah, but only because you strapped clown shoes to his feet.

Poor DS has feet like little squares. Hopefully they'll grow longways without getting wider!

I still feel the pain. I think if my shoe size existed I'd be something like a 1 1/2 J. I end up upsizing to 4s with a random spare inch at the end.

As a child I had THE pair of H fitting shoes with the same style year after year. Fecking Tbars in year 6. I still thank God that I just about made it to lace ups for secondary school. Then I had a few more years of that style.

The extra problem with extreme feet is it's a complete waste of time ordering without trying unless returning badly fitting shoes and standing in post office queues is your idea of a hobby.

Bra stockists seem to manage a diverse range of cups and backs!

Pity my poor mother. I have 3 sizes different between my feet. Currently a 3 and a 6.