To think clarks and start rite are sexist when it comes to school shoes

[Balcanoona]

Buying school shoes for DD 9 and 11 yesterday - both walk to school, one along the canal, the eldest has narrow feet. But the only girls shoes on offer from these two companies has very thin soles which would be worn through within a month. The boys shoes had thick soles and far more robust. The extremely helpful shop assistant told me they were "fashion shoes" and companies don't really think about practicalities. We found another brand more suitable, but really, for 9 year old to think they don't run about - AIBU?

well, I have funny feet and buy shoes that fit. sometimes from the woman's section, sometimes the men's

Hi my DS is dyspraxic and can't do laces, I replace his lace ups with "special curly laces" that work. re shoes, I have a different issue, DS very tall 12 and needs a 7 shoe. Nearly all brands for children's shoes seem to stop at 6 or a 40. IF he goes into men's shoes next year, what a price!! Start rite do offer children's shoes further up the size range but what do children with big feet do? They are still children and their feet do grow so I don't want to pay too much for school shoes that will only last a year?

My dd11 always chose shoes from the 'boys' section in Clarks. She refused to wear anything resembling a Mary Jane style so that's what we got.

Similarly, we always got the best tshirts and jumpers from the boys part of Next clothing. Her most favourite jumper ever was a grey woken jumper with small red and blue stripes. She was thoroughly depressed when she finally grew out of it. Why on earth a fairly 'neutral' coloured stripy jumper would need to be in a 'boys' section is beyond me.

Luckily, she has a younger ds to pass it all on to.

She's now a woman's size 5 shoe size and a size 8 in women's clothing. She favours places like Fatface and Gap. I resent having to pay the VAT though.

The thing is, I don't want to have to buy boys shoes for my daughter, or even unisex ones. What I want is girls school shoes that are practical.

I think most shoe shops have men's and women's shoes segregated in the same way that girl's and boy's shoes are.

Clarks in the Trafford Centre are great. DD has tricky feet to fit (deep and wide). We ended up with the whole selection out and 3 assistants trying but they wouldn't let her out with a pair that didn't fit properly.

Clarkes and Startright have always had the monopoly, for generations they've had parents over a barrel!
I don't really think that their much better than any other mass produced kids shoes, but with all the specialised measuring, so called trained assistants etc, they have been guilting us parents/grandparents into buying them all along!
Whatever happened to Tough School Shoes for Girls, I wore them, (OK, a million years ago) and it was impossible to damage them?!

The Startrite shoes my DD has have always been very sturdy. The soles are thick and last the year and they have nice padding round the ankle giving them good support. The styles are like Mary Janes but come reasonably far up the foot. There is no reason why she can't run, climb, jump etc. Bothered styles come in sizes up to 2 or 3.

Shoes being sturdy and covering the whole foot are not the same issue. There are certainly sturdy, Mary Jane styles out there which have thick soles, do up securely and will allow lots of physical activity.
Actually most women's shoes don't cover the whole foot, when you think about it. Often women will find a comfortable, practical shoe which they feels looks nice. It enables them to walk distances and be on their feet all day at work, but doesn't necessarily cover their whole foot. I don't think it is necessary to have a shoe which covers the whole foot (so no need for boys shoes for my girls) but I do want them sturdy and lasting. I think Startrite make those shoes.

Perhaps the girls who choose to wear boys shoes do so simply because they like those styles, because really, there are girls shoes around which will allow all kinds of physical activity without any problem. Yes,not here are some crap shoes about too, which some girls may be tempted by.....but you don't have to buy them. Look on the Startrite website to see the huge range including lace up brogues for girls which cover the full foot.

Lelli Kelly have some sturdy patent buckle ups with a chunky sole this season. I was happy for dd to have them but they were too big around her ankles so even she accepted they wouldn't be comfy.

And Jones had some sketchers in a black trainer style for girls. Sole was a tad flimsy for winter though. Might investigate next summer.

I'm lucky that our school doesn't have strict uniform code and they wear gym shoes inside the school building.
DD1 started off with shoes but I realised she hardly wore them - just for walking to school and for playtimes so in I think it was the third year she switched to trainers.
I used to have the problem of Clarks only doing white/pale pink trainers for girls - they were filthy after a week - and the boy's trainers looked very much like boy's trainers and she didn't want them (she was bullied anyway) but they did seem to get better at offering dark colours/black (with pink trim ...).
DD2 has always had trainers and this year she chose black ones from the boys section...
(Its like cheap joggers and hoodies for playing football etc - the girl's ones were always pale pink (often with sparkles)... life is too short to try and get knee and bottom mud stains out of pale pink. Same with white socks - I used to faff trying to get them clean every week - I had a conversation with another mother and she said she just threw them away like disposable ones - so I just go to the boys section now - get black/dark soled - don't even bother looking in the girls...)

When I was a child I had problems with my flat feet. My physiotherapist said to avoid slip ons and Mary Janes as they don't support the foot and ankle enough. So it was t-bar or lace ups for me, while all my friends wore the pretty Clarks shoes with the keys in the bottom (anyone remember those?). I do believe she was correct, however. I see so many girls walking around school with shoes falling off their feet and their ankles turning in because they're not tight enough. It will be sturdy clumpers for all my kids!

YANBU, we want to clarkes to get dd some shoes for nursery. The first problem was that school shoes start at size 7, she's a 6. There were only two styles we could choose from, both patent t-bar style (t-bar is fine but would have preferred leather).

Secondly whilst waiting I was looking at the school shoes section and most of the shoes they had on display were of the Mary Jane type. A bit of variety wouldn't go amiss. Hopefully her feet will grow come this time next year otherwise we'll have to go elsewhere for school shoes. Think I remember seeing size 6 school shoes in sainsburys the other day...

Clarks seems to have deteriorated in all aspects of quality in the last few years. I never use them anymore.

MrsChubby DS1 is 12 and needs a size 8. I just buy him shoes off the shelf, his ones for this term are from Sports Direct. They are leather and have a thick sole but were £28. I got him measured at Clarks but they had nothing he liked.

Dd has never had a problem with the soles on start rite shoes. Her instep means she is restricted to certain styles namely samba Mary Jane's & angry Angels brogues.
They both lasted a whole year.

I was shopping for shoes with my 5yo yesterday and we found a pair of child size 10 high heels in TK Maxx which she decided she had to have. Obviously I did not buy them!! The children's shoe world has gone mad.

Small-size doesn't mean "for children". There are plenty of small grown-up people.

Twinmamma yes magic steps! I had hectic tocs. Remember them?

Can i suggest you all follow the let clothes be clothes page on fb. They posted something yesterday about clarks. Apparently they are going to stop dividing them up by gender.

I am getting so fed up of the labelling! Why can't there just be a selection of shoes of all styles without the "boy" or "girl" label.

It's not like poor people get confused about which are the "correct" shoes to buy so need a label.

Just ordered three sets of bog standard trainers for PE for my DC and was so annoyed that the plain white with blue was for "boys" and then of course there was a pink version for girls! Naturally my three all got the boys ones regardless of gender but it annoys me that might daughter might feel embarrassed because the shoes say "boy" in them.

If I had a DD then I would only buy enclosed shoes anyway as they have much better ankle support and after having several ankle injuries as a kid (skateboarding, climbing trees, badly cobbled streets etc) I think that it's really important to have that extra support - I have orthotics now and sometimes wear ankle supports so trying to find shoes for me which are nice looking, wide enough and supportive enough is a nightmare! We (FIL) ended up spending £50 on DSS's first pair of school shoes - which don't look much but he can run around in them and they are as sturdy as DMs (but come in width fittings).

Dds school sends photos of acceptable & non acceptable styles. They have to be supportive no ballet flats.

Clark's quality has really gone downhill since they moved to easter Europe IMO.

The last two pair of leather shoes I have bought for my children have come from elsewhere as I decided to stop using Clarks. The girls shoes from Clarks are too flimsy imo, especially in winter and they just didn't seem to last two minutes. I also tried the patent girls shoes and they just peeled after two weeks and looked awful. The boys shoes are limited in style. My son is 9 now so no longer wants footballs or tractors on the side of his shoes!

I also wish they just sold shoes for children. I have often bought girl trainers for DS, as boy shoes are all black or brown and ugly. He's 3, he likes sparkles and flowers, not sculls. Agree about sturdiness though, and I especially hate the smooth thin slippery soles girl shoes have.

I've just bought DS some Start Rite shoes. Last year his Clark's shoes had a hole in them within a week! I swapped them for some Start Rite, which I have stuck with again this year. His feet are growing at a supersonic speed though (he's 5 and in a size 1) so may need to buy him another pair half way through the year.

Girls shoes I wouldn't know reallly. Exdsd used to wear the dolly type shoes with the strap that goes across and she seemed happy enough in those.
When I was about 10 I used to wear bootleg and kickers, which covered all of my foot and wasn't a problem in rain and snow.

Agreed. Totally. Boys get tough shoes so they can run around and play, and girls get pretty shoes to sit still and be pretty in. That said, my DD (6) has some Mary. Janes for school, but they're Startrite, much tougher and comfier than Clark's. DD (10), however, likes to wear walking boots!

Bootlegs were fab, I was a proper tomboy and they were perfect for me. I refused 'traditional' Clarks shoes.