to buy my dd secondhand shoes?

[gingerbreadlovegirl]

she's 18months and i've seen some really nice decent clarks shoes on ebay.
can't afford those in the shops

these are the one's, look like they have hardly been worn.

here

More likely the bunions are caused by wearing pointy, high, completely unsuitable things that teenagers tend to favour over low heeled sensible footwear!

drlove8 - shoes dont cause bunions. They may exacerbate a pre-existing condition but they will not cause them.

"nd hand shoes that you can not try on are not a good idea for an 18month old.

don't do it. You need to try shoes on before you buy them, ESPECIALLY for small child whose feet are growing. Secondhand shoes are a very, very bad idea indeed.

I worked for Clarks for many Years as a trained childrens fitter. I'd say don't buy childrens shoes 2nd hand if you can avoid it.

I would say you can buy them cheaper at places like Next and Tesco after getting your child measured at Clarks, but you need to look out for the following:

The width - check it by running your fingers across the top of the shoe when they are on, there needs to be some give but not masses.

The Heel - make sure the heel is not too wide by watching your child walking in them, then get her to sit down and pull hard at the heel to see if it gives. Use your own judgement on what is too much. It's no use winding the strap in if they are loose at the heel as they'll only rub.

The toes - there should be about a fingers width of space left in the front of the shoe to allow a bit of growth space. Follow the big toe round and give them a good push to see how much room there is.

I still buy Clrks for my kids, but only because we have a Clarks Factory outlet near us where they are so much cheaper - DD got her school boots from there for £16 as opposed to almost £30 in the regular Clarks stores. Maybe you could see if you have a factory store near you?

HTH.

Startrite have good fitting videos online which are useful - visual representation of hat Eve4Walle is talking about above/below (delete according to MN settings).

i got my daughter a pair of startrite shoes from Brantanos this week in the sales £10- after her dad accidently took her only pair to work (100 miles away). They had some from around £6 a pair

teanager i was talking about was in fact my younger brother, and i am sure hes never worn high pointy shoes lol

There was a thread about this same subject a few months ago. I go to Clarks every few months to get DS measured, if it is the summer will buy a pair of Doodles. Then we buy the right size of E-bay. DS mostly wears trainers so soft and malleable, never had an issue with them being overly worn. At £10 a pop rather than 30 it is worth it.Also DH used to be a shoe fitter so he double checks that the fitting is ok.

DS has wide feet and I bought a pair of wellies from Next but he cried and said they hurt his feet because they were too tight. To me it is much less risky to get a second hand pair of good quality shoes of the right measurement than buy narrow fitting shoes that might not be made out of leather.