School Shoes

[hoteld]

Blatant misuse of AIBU- sorry!

I'm about to enter the world of school shoe shopping and I have a question. I've seen too many threads about school shoes being destroyed within weeks!

Is it worth going to the pricey independent shoe retailer to get a pair for £50-£60? Will they actually last better than Tescos £20? Or will they only last marginally longer in which case it would be better to get cheaper pairs and replace more regularly?

I don't mind paying a chunk as long as I'm not replacing them within the month.

Experienced parents of mumsnet, please talk school shoes to me!

We’ve always had Clarks or Start-rite and all I can say is that they’ve always lasted the year with soles intact, and looking generally okay with a fab of polish.

I do the £50ish independent shoes (Geox), but have topped up with supermarket shoes, and I'd go to the supermarket before Clarks.

I mainly bought the supermarket shoes in the early years because Clarks would fall apart before they were out grown before moving on to Geox. I now roll over from one school year to the next. DS is starting secondary in Easter's shoes.

Clarks used to be good but quality has gone down hill imo. I switched to Next - medium price but lasted really well. Sadly mine have grown out of the available sizes now

I was always a Clark’s girl pre covid however our local branch closed and I couldn’t hear the queues! I’ve bought some from tescos which weren’t great if I’m honest. My son now wears Nike leather trainers…. Which are super comfy and last forever! They do them across the size range…..The best shoes for my daughter recently have been from marks and Spencer. Again very comfy and hard wearing

In 7 years, I've never had school shoes destroyed. Weve had startrite, Clarks, M&S, Sainsburys, John Lewis, and Asda.

I have had a child grow out of two pairs in 5 weeks, which was painful.

I find Clarks hit and miss - one year they last all year and probably would a second if they still fit but last year they barely lasted a term.

We got Skechers after that and apart from the velcro no longer sticking they're ace.

Ive also bought from deichman? They were as cheap as chips but rubbish! They did do a bogof on them tho!

We've also had M&S and other supermarket shoes all ok - whatever you get if it's a boy remember they're going to be playing in them so choose a hard wearing style!

Look on Vinted/eBay
I got some brand new Clarks shoes with labels on for £25 including postage
The exact ones I would have bought in the shop aswell...
Worth a look

Sainsbury's toezone last well, and are only slightly more then other supermarket offerings. If you can find ones with rubber over the toe it will save a lot of trying to polish out scuffs. M&S are also good, and price wise sit in between supermarket and expensive.

I've used m&s, Clarks, sainsburys and Tesco over the years. Haven't noticed much difference in the overall wear, the last pair were from Tesco and do seem to be more worn looking than I'd like for the time they've had them but then again my daughter also has a habit of deliberately dragging her feet to wear out the soles when she fancies a new pair 🙄 I think you can usually tell which ones will fall apart quickly. Sainsbury's have been my personal favourites. They have some really good ones for the price and they look no different to the more expensive ones.

I prefer to buy cheap buy twice, because their feet grow so fast anyway!

I've found £30 from M&S to be a good compromise.

We've had M&S mainly through primary, with the odd asda pair when their feet grew near the end of term. Overall great quality and lasted the year, with walking a mile to and from school most days. Could tell the difference between quality of the shoes from Asda and M&S. Had clarks last year for both dds and again lasted, dd2's looked very worse for wear last few weeks of term but no holes.

Sorry for the essay. I am a school shoe expert (tongue in cheek).
I’ve always used proper shoe fitters (£50 shoes) and they would always last. My DS were playground footballers so shoes took some bashing. Sometimes if your child’s feet don’t grow that fast they might wear the shoes for 2 school years. The mums at school who bought the £20 supermarket shoes ended up having to replace them 3 or 2 times throughout the year as they never lasted.
My grandad was a shoemaker so I was brought up being taught that you look after your feet so a good pair of shoes is important.
We have now left the world of school shoes as they are 6th formers. Never had a blister between them.

Thanks all. Do M&S fit shoes for the children? I'm not very confident on sizing and she has insanely narrow feet.

If you have a boy definitely Rhino from Start-Rite. www.startriteshoes.com/rhino-sherman-black-leather-boys-lace-up-school-shoes
Just bought a pair again for the third year running as the previous ones lasted right through the school year. The reinforced front survived football, climbing, wrestling etc completely intact. They sell them in John Lewis (who have fitters) or independent shops as well as online - you can buy your own measuring gauge from them or just follow the sizing instructions .

I have an autistic child who spends a lot of time everyday pacing up and down outside. I've not noticed any difference in quality between the £50 shoes we got him from Clarks or the £20 pair we got him from Asda.

Clarks quality isn’t great in my experience, but they have good customer service. For example, we bought a £42 pair of boys school shoes, within 4 months the sole had started coming away from the shoe at the front so we took them back and they exchanged them for a new pair. A few months later the same problem occurred so we took them back and they let us exchange for a different style (and measured his feet again and gave us the new size). So far so good on this pair but he only had a couple of months in them before the summer holidays.

I haven’t had sole issues with the girls Clark’s shoes but I have had splits in the leather and bits fall off.

We’ve also bought Sainsburys shoes in the past and they have been fine and we don’t mind if they don’t last ages because they’re half the price.

I mainly persist with Clarks because of the width fitting.

On fitting - our local John Lewis has one very experienced and knowledgeable fitter working in the children’s shoes dept but in August you are much more likely to get someone from another dept who has been sent on a course for a morning and redeployed for the summer. They try their best but they are a bit inept. My DD has narrow feet with high arches and an inexperienced fitter will misinterpret this as needing a wide fitting.

Since the last occasion when they insisted she needed a G width fitting which was like a bloody boat on her I have bought a Start-Rite shoe gauge and I measure and fit her myself. There are videos and guides in the Start-Rite website and online and it really is pretty easy, especially once you get to know what shoe shapes work for your child’s feet. For example DD needs support over the top of the foot so a T-bar shoe is better for her than a Mary-Jane shape. It was a revelation when she learnt to tie laces and brogues became an option.

I’ve never seen fitters in M&S.

For narrow feet I’d try Next and the Clark’s. I find M and S shoes are quite wide. I get my two shoes from wherever will fit and not fall off. The prices of Clark’s is nuts tho so I’d try somewhere else first. Haven’t noticed a difference in quality between them and anywhere else. Also, Defo get Velcro so they can do them themselves

Just seen you have a DD - prepare yourself for the insane sexism of school shoe design. I have one of each and cannot believe how much tougher boys’ shoes are.

Last year my reception age son had adidas tensaur shoe/trainer and they're still in excellent condition, just outgrown. They lasted the whole year and he's a boisterous boy. Always outside, rolling around in god knows what.

This year I've bought him Clark's because his new school uniform policy is a bit more strict but if they don't last I'll go back to the tensaurs.

We've always had shoes at the ~£50 price point, but we go to an independent fitter so have had Hush Puppies, Clarks, Startrite and Geox over the years. DD1 has very narrow heels and it takes the fitter a good while to find a pair that don't slip around on her feet even with a variety of brands to choose from. I have given up on supermarket shoes because I have been around numerous stores in the past and they never fit properly. The ones we get last well enough to pass on to DD2 until she has also outgrown them, then sell on.
We buy as and when needed, and like a PP it hasn't been usual for DD1 to need new shoes at Easter but then go back in them in September. Not this year, DD1 has totally outgrown her Easter pair already

I don’t particularly rate Clarks shoes & their fitting really depends on who you get.

Our local independent is amazing and that is always our go to for school shoes. They are really conscientious about the fitting & won’t sell shoes that aren’t perfect. They also aim for them to last the year (& we’re at 10 pairs of school shoes between 2 dc now that have lasted all year) - they’ve stretched dd’s shoes in the past when they were getting a bit small in the last few weeks of the year.

Children wear their school shoes for a lot of time. They’re the 1 pair of shoes I think it’s really important to spend the money on (if you can).

I've always bought Clarks for both dd and ds and they've always lasted the year.