To think Clarks really are the best school shoes?

[Boxofbics]

Have always used Clarks shoes for school but with all the prices of everything creeping up I am wondering if other school shoes are just as good?

Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco have decent shoes for less than £20 while Clarks are close to £50.

Thoughts?
Thanks.

That's really strange as I find they last well for my son but not my daughter! Her last pair of Clarks were destroyed by Oct half term.
I do think their fitting is useless though. A few years ago due to me leaving it so late and lack of stock, I ended up going to 3 different Clarks stores in a weekend. They measured my son a different size and every one!
M and s shoes are quite good. My daughter who is now 11 also had a pair of hush puppies this year and they have lasted great

I used to always buy Clark's for my eldest but they are so expensive now! My youngest gets M&S and tbh they've lasted her all year. No more Clark's in this house

DD has extremely narrow feet. Therefore it has to be Clark's (or StartRite, but they're even more expensive) as nowhere else has the wide selection width fittings.

Clarks quality has gone down hill and their customer service to match. The last pair of shoes I bought from there, the sole starting peeling and pilling after a fortnight, and they tried to tell me it was ‘unusual wear and tear’ and that they wouldn’t refund me. The cobbler I go to (shout out to the incredible cobbler at Oval station) told me it wasn’t worth even resoling them they were such poor quality. I’ll never buy them again.

Can anyone recommend where to buy wide fitting mens size shoes? Struggling as Clark's shoes are trainer type and school are very strict on shoes not looking like trainer or crossover type

Nah, I used to buy Clark’s but they just don’t have the durability they used to. I now buy addidas tenasaur they look just like school shoes £25 and the children say they are more comfortable too.

I buy my kids' shoes at a local independent retailer. They used to stock Clarks but don't anymore as they said the quality is no longer good enough. Something to do with they supportive collar that goes round the heel being made of cardboard now instead of plastic so it collapses over time and no longer supports the foot properly. Clarks don't fit my kids anyway though as they both have such narrow feet, we tend to get ricosta, superfit, lurchi or petasil as they all come up narrower.

Also agree with a pp who mentioned the price of Clarks adult shoes, couldn't believe how expensive they are now when I looked recently!

M&S all the way - they are leather and come in wide fittings and last so much longer than clarks.

Or if you are happy spending £50+ then an independent which stocks geox, start-rite etc

I do this too. DS2's school shoes were £25 last year and £31 this year, so not too bad. DS1's giant size 10F school shoes were £32. Better than £50 or £60 a pop.

My DD is 9 and had a pair of Clark’s brogues for school, they still look almost new and if they still fitted her she’d wear them again this September. She is a sporty and very active child, always rubbing and climbing, they have held up unbelievably well.

The 'girl's" shoes are awful. The 'boys' not that much better. Both mine wear Next shoes.

I have learned the hard way that it is worth paying for decent school shoes. Froddo, Camper and Primigi are all worth the price. Clarke's are ok but not worth the price, and supermarket ones are hard - DS won't wear them.

If I were saving money then Nike court borough are tough and comfortable, but my DS has smelly feet which are better in the brands above.

We moved to m&s with lockdown. Teens shoes lasted a year with much abuse and football and only £37 compared to Clark's £50

Any of the supermarkets will have shoes better than clarks.

If you want better quality you want doc martins, proper Kickers (not the cheap ones from sports direct), geox, riccosta.

I worry about your physio. Most kids with physio needs (who aren't in piedro boots) will be in Kick-hi boots. They are one of the best for accomodating custom insoles, not as heavy as docs and provide decent ankle support. Whenever I've been in Clark's they havent even had anything that was remotely comparable.

Docs DD could get away with without insoles and still pass muster with the physio. But they are heavy so no good for fatigue or dislocation prone Hypermobility.

When I fit shoes for both my physio needing kids I was able to find shoes that fit the bill in everywhere from asda to shoe zone. But Kickers, if you could afford the initial outlay (sometimes I couldn't) were best value overall. I could even hand them down between children sometimes.

I gave up on Clarks halfway through yR when yet another pair fell apart/ became too tatty to wear. I bitterly resent having to double buy the same size because of shoddy quality. The stitching fell apart on two pairs of pre-schooler shoes and my DCs were not heavy walkers; they still got lifts in prams/ carriers at 4. The yR pair didn't have enough overlap of velcro so it wore out quickly and fluffed up daily from the reading rug, so they'd fall off easily and he'd mash his feet back in damaging the structure on the heels. He never out grew a pair before they were only fit for the bin.

They're cheap tat with a huge mark up based on an old reputation.

I buy Geox from an independent store but would go to Sainsbury's or M&S before Clarks.

Thanks everyone this is all very helpful.

As long as the shoe has a proper arch support they should be fine.
But always make sure your shoes are well made.
My grandad taught us always have a good bed and a good pair of shoes, because if you are not in one you'll be in the other. X

Startrite are good. X

Never heard that- really good point!

They're cheap tat with a huge mark up based on an old reputation.

I agree but this has got me thinking…
We all had Clark’s shoes when we were young - I remember very clearly my Dad lining them up and polishing them every week, I also remember him taking them to be re-stitched & re-heeled through the year.
They certainly didn’t ‘last’ all year without quite a bit of maintenance.