to boycott Clarks over their lame and sexist response about girls wanting to wear dino shoes?

[AmberLav]

I've just been reading the Metro this morning, and saw a story about an 8 year old girl who wrote to Clarks after she was refused dinosaur shoes on the basis that "they are not suitable for girls' bones"!

The reply from the Clarks spokesman was "We are sorry to hear our product range didn't suit Sophia's tastes. We offer a wide range of children's shoes to meet varied tastes and needs."

So somehow, little Sophia has been turned a fussy sod who is just unable to accept that having XX chromosomes means that she must wear pink and flowery shoes! WTF!!!!!!

An I being unreasonable to be outraged by the response from Clarks?

Fuck clarks, the quality isn't there since they moved all the factory's abroad.

Hmm, I just bought a pair of dino shoes for DD and they were happy to sell them to us. Maybe they need to get their story straight?

littlered girls only do gentle clapping games don't you know. no scuff bands needed.

and why is this news? don't like the shoes then go to the next shop...

I don't know why you are all fussing and fuming about this gender neutral stuff - by the time your PFB is 13 she will be wearing her skirts up to her bum and skimpy tops. And all your 'gender neutral' rantings will be for nothing, I promise you.

There is such a shortfall in the market for tough wearing girls shoes. DD is often in boys boots as she has low muscle tone and needs extra support that the footwear marketed for girls just doesn't have.

It's a shame as she doesn't want dinosaurs or diggers - give her pink sparkle any day.

This is news because a major retailer refused to sell a product to a customer solely on the basis of her sex.

And because instead of apologising, the retailer's spokesperson blamed the customer for being too fussy.

san what has the sales assistant being on min wage got to do with it?

Id just have bought the shoes.

Actually, l didn't think those canvas shoes came in sizes big enough for that girl.

I asked Clarks straight out to prove to me they use a last of boys feet for boys and a last of girls feet for girls shoes - and they couldn't.

I buy Geox and Timberland boys and they suit DD fine.
The only issue is DD has narrow ankles and boys shoes tend to be wider - however this isn't to do with X or Y chromosomes as my friend's boy with narrow feet has problems with shoes and my friend with a girl with wide feet has problems getting girls shoes.

It's lazy shoe design basically based on averages.

Hence me shopping for Geox and Timberland.

Miggsie, have you tried Ecco, that's what DD wears on her skinny floppy feet.

OOh - I wear Ecco but never thought about it for DD (idiot me!) - thanks for that will look next time the shoe shopping comes round!

"Not suitable for girls' bones". Jeez that's a thick thing to say.

The other week I saw a woman ask a salesperson in H&M if an item of clothing was for a boy or a girl. It was a baby grow. I almost knawed my own first off to stop me saying something.

I refuse to buy from any shop that won't allow me to choose my own purchase.

We have ended up buying Pablosky boots a lot, and start rite shoes.

Nowadays, DD lives in her astroturf runners (soccer shoes - boys dept) as her main everyday wear (hockey, soccer, GAA and athletics, as well as playtime 3 days per week, on the astro pitch at school, with a further 3 sessions per week on astro pitches for club training) with a pair of Nike runners (turquoise blue - girls) as a compromise for with jeans, proper football studs (boys dept) for GAA and soccer on grass pitches (summer mainly but also matches), and a pair of both hiking boots (somewhat pale blue) and wellies (bright orange) for out and about stuff.

She lives in tracksuits - 5 days per week for school, both days of the weekend for training. If we are really lucky, it rains on Sunday mornings and we have to change after training, so we get her into jeans then.

She is very happy to buy both clothes and shoes in the boys departments so she can get the hard wearing things she wants and that are suitable for serious training rather than just looking pretty.

DD is 9. Not late teens. Some girls are just not into flowers and fairies and shite like that.

fecklessfairy you make it sound like all teenage girl dress as the way you describe which is odd because I know a lot of teenagers and none of them. Teenage girls are not a homogenous mass of shirt skirts and make up.

None of them dress like you describe.

the min wage (to be fair, they could pay more, i am just going on ave retail practice) comment was just to say, here is a salesperson paid fuck all, given v little training in shoe fitting, a lot more in shoe sales nonsense phrases, why boycott a whole franchise based on one confused low paid member of staff

Clarks head office comment:
A Clarks spokesman said: â??Clarks are sorry to hear that Sophia was informed these shoes arenâ??t suitable for girls. The Stomposaurus range can safely be worn by all children.

sounds reasonable enough to me

mmmm, YANBU if we take the article at face value but I think there might be some kind of set up or exaggeration at play.

The article I saw had a pair of the supposed girls shoes that Sophia could have chosen pictured - they were clearly of a size and style aimed at a 3-4 year old and would never have fitted or suited an 8 year old, let alone been acceptable as school shoes (which is what the article said they were shopping for).

The dinosaur shoes were not pictured. Which makes me wonder if they're also meant for much younger children. I can't imagine any 8 year old (girl or boy) willingly going to school in shows with dinosaurs on.

I stopped buying from clarks when my dd was about 18 months old, all if the girls in play group/ swimming /gym etc had exactly the same shoes each season and my very active daughter didn't look that comfy in them- their shoes are so rigid!

I use independent shops (shoebedo in Shrewsbury, funky monkey in cardiff) that sell the European brands such as bo-bell, geox and pepino. They come in at around the same price but are so much more flexible, made of beautiful soft leather, have nice covers on the toes to stop scuffing and dd looks much more comfortable in them. Oh and as someone else said you pretty much are the only child not in clarks so no mix ups!

We buy start rite online - I buy the same pair in 3 sizes and 2 widths (so 6 pairs) and send back whatever doesn't fit.

" by the time your PFB is 13 she will be wearing her skirts up to her bum and skimpy tops. And all your 'gender neutral' rantings will be for nothing, I promise you."
no my DD was not 'wearing skirts up her bum' when she was 13 thanks!