To take nearly 16yo DS to Clarks Kids?

[SmashedCucumber]

DS is 16 in a few months, and today we have an appointment for a shoe fitting at Clarks kids. He hasn’t been measured for ages, I want to make sure we know his true size to then replace his battered school shoes and trainers. Clarks kids go up to an adult size 10 in some styles and his feet are still smaller than that.
DS is moaning saying he doesn’t want to have to go on the foot measuring device which is very much geared around little ones, (getting them to choose their favourite colour etc before the machine starts measuring), which I understand totally, will they be able to measure his feet in some other non-cringey way? I resent paying adult price shoes when the kids section can still cater for him.
Or should I cancel the appointment, get his feet measured some other way and then buy shoes from the (adult range) elsewhere?

That was to SarahBellam

[quote GhostTypeEevee]@maddiemookins16mum

My husband is in the army and doesn't have a problem with going into Clarke's. If anything he sees the importance in good fitting footwear [/quote]
Yes but does his mum insist on accompanying him?

@WorraLiberty Only at the start of a new year

@premiumshoes
can't stop laughing please don't take him .

What are you laughing at?

The lads 16 practical an adult and he doesn't want to go . it's like pushing him around in a trolley at asda .
In the adult world shoe size are all different anyway

The lads 16 practical an adult and he doesn't want to go . it's like pushing him around in a trolley at asda .

Don't be so ridiculous. Buying shoes is a perfectly normal thing to do for people of all ages in Clarks. It's a shoe shop that caters for everyone. 16 year olds go there all the time. They also measure their feet. Adults still measure their feet in show shops from time to time. It's not a laughable event.

Tbh I didnt need my feet measured from middle school (age 9), possibly sooner. I was able to tell my mum where my toes were and she could feel for space. I genuinely thought that's how people did it once kids had gotten past the primary stage

It’s possible to get “stuck” in a phase remember my sister coming to stay her kids a year or so younger than mine doing “oh shit they should be cleaning their own teeth by now shouldn’t they” - yep!

Premium are you a foot measurer concerned about losing clients 😀.

In the new Covid world it’s an utter faff anyway so best those of us with older kids and teens free up the foot measuring service for those that really need it and for whom it’s intended ie the under sixes.

So you've gone from 'pre verbal toddlers' to 'under sixes' - this is nonsense. Dont quite understand why you are so strongly to kids whose feet are still developing having their feet measured.

I see the effects of parents babying their older children and it has a pretty disastrous outcome...step away from the foot measurers! Your children need to grow up ...

I buy my kids shoes from Deichmann, my boys are 10 and 13. The 13 year old has size 8 feet so definitely in men's shoes. Fair enough the shoes probably aren't as high quality, but their feet are going to grow quickly anyway and they are good at trashing them. As others have said, a 16 year old should be able to tell whether shoes fit him or not. Tend to only pay between £20-30 for shoes there.

How on earth is having their feet measured properly anything to do with growing up?

Honestly never heard such crap.

I'm so confused about people saying to buy them from other shops so they're not kids shoes.
This is what my son normally wears, they're pretty standard I thought, just smart black shoes. What sort do people suggest so they're not kids shoes?

Ok these are kids but this is the sort of DM dd wore

www.schuh.co.uk/kids/junior-dr-martens-3989-black-shoes/2301277020/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwp4j6BRCRARIsAGq4yMHblXjl_rnO4OOWAOoo5jG1efnItXj3el21_0B7pDOnFBh0mTL6A9AaAvUyEALw_wcB

Or these www.schuh.co.uk/womens/dr-martens-1461-black-flat-shoes/1349027040/ they’re just a black brogue?

They’re black brigues?

These are the exact ones dd had she couldn’t have. Coloured. Stitches

www.schuh.co.uk/kids/youth-dr-martens-3989-black-shoes/2401277020/

Agree that the first DMs that a PP linked to are perfectly acceptable, even for DS's fairly strict school - but as she also pointed out, they're £120! That's nearly three times the cost of the really nice (and not at all childish) shoes I've just bought Year 8 DS from the Clarks website. No way am I spending that much on school shoes! I'd happily buy shoes at somewhere other than Clarks - but as others have said, Clarks are one of the main high street shoe chains, so to my mind one of the obvious choices. Agree with others that there are some parents on here who are really reinforcing the idea of peer pressure - as if it needed reinforcing.

Dd had Clark’s and walked them done in a term. The dms were £60 or £70 I can’t remember (she’s a size 4) and they lasted two years and she still has them

@Noneformethanks

Ok these are kids but this is the sort of DM dd wore

www.schuh.co.uk/kids/junior-dr-martens-3989-black-shoes/2301277020/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwp4j6BRCRARIsAGq4yMHblXjl_rnO4OOWAOoo5jG1efnItXj3el21_0B7pDOnFBh0mTL6A9AaAvUyEALw_wcB

Or these www.schuh.co.uk/womens/dr-martens-1461-black-flat-shoes/1349027040/ they’re just a black brogue?

The top ones would probably be accepted at my children's schools, but the bottom ones no way. Patent, and with yellow stitching would not be allowed. Whether that's reasonable is another matter, but that's the way the school runs. And yes, they are just black brogues. But Clarks, Startrite etc also sell "just black brogues" so why are so many people saying that it is laughable or cruel to buy them for teenagers but not basically the same shoe in a "cool" brand? It makes absolutely no sense.

I clarified the coloured stitching wouldn’t be allowed.

I bought Clark’s but they didn’t last.

DMs were definitely worth the extra she wore them all 6th form and they still look great she can wear them with her interview suit for eg in future

I took my 12yo DS to be measured at Clarks because otherwise he just takes the first pair he tries on, assuring me that they feel great, then he tells me a week later that they feel too small, too wide, too something-totally-made-up. At least this way, a third party has measured his feet and checked the shoes all over while on his feet. He's more inclined to take other people's word over mine😊

I'm lucky in that DS couldn't give a rat's ass about having his feet measured among a bunch of younger kids. He's too busy noticing a broken section of strip lighting or the fact that the carpet has faded in a weird pattern.

Sorry, missed your second post clarifying that Noneformethanks but the issue of whether DMs are better isn't the point. I don't particularly rate Clarks either and don't buy them for my own children- I prefer what I see as better brands too. But that's not what people are saying. The majority of posters have not said "YABU to buy your son Clarks shoes because they are not good value" they have said that they are laughable, social suicide, that their child wouldn't be seen dead in them, its cruel etc etc - its all about image, nothing to do with how well they will last. And to be fair, whilst I don't like them myself, plenty of people seem to get on perfectly well with Clarks.