to feel ripped off after spending £28 on a pair of shoes from clarkes.....

[mum2samandalex]

it was his first pair of shoes and only one bloody choice and not the nicest i can tell you. What is it about having to buy clarkes shoes my mums alway telling me youve got to buy clarkes or else your ruin their feet. I have to go back 6-8 weeks to get them remeasured!

Bearing in mind that my ds goes through a pair of shoes every month, I would bankrupt myself if I bought Clarkes each time.

I did go the Clarkes route with my first dc, but she had "B" fitting shoes which had to be specially ordered. She's 13 years old now and still got very narrow feet. Grrrrh.

However she did once get fitted at Clarkes, walked a couple of streets in her new shoes, and then noticed blood on her sock. Yep, a great big blister on her ankle. Took them straight back and never bought any again.

fantastic independent store they are a swedish company...unfortunately only 3 in UK but if you are near one I can highly recommend, really funky colourful shoes, great quality and very thorough fitting.

I also fall into the Clarks trap. My mother was a fiend for 'properly' measured feet and I am my mother's daughter I'm afraid. But I really don't get their sixing. DD is on her first proper pair of shoes. She measured a 3F but they had none in stock so we ended up with a 3.5E. I have no clue if that's right or wrong but they told me to come back in 6 weeks to be measured again. That was in the new year and she still has loads of growing room so who knows.

What really annoys me about Clarks though is the crap choice. Either sugar neon pink or nothing. We ended up with black patent which are actually really nice but I would have preferred a nice navy or something,

Does anyone measure their children's feet themselves? Was thinking that I could buy a gauge to measure DS and then use that fantastic site that TsarChasm linked to. Any reason why not? And where can you get a gauge from?

I bought a gauge from Start Rite's website (about £4.50) but I don't know if you can rely on the sizing from one shop to another, as with everything.

hensmum the other dubious thing is that clarks and startright have different measuring thingys - they come up "a bit different" apparently. How helpful is that.

Re the little bit bigger - I have v narrow feet and the toe clenching thing was when I had shoes which were too wide (well tried them on anyway - I was never allowed to actually have them - double t-bar all the way here ).

DD has v narrow feet too so far and it's hard to find shoes the right width. For narrow feet maybe trainers with laces would be good - as an adult that's what I end up with as you can pull them nice and tight. Are they all velcro for kiddies these days though?

DD's school shoes cost me £34 from Clarks last week - we did have nearly every pair out in the shop though as her feet are so long and narrow. Won't be long before she wants new sandals either which we'll probably get in Startrite.

I paid £40 for her boots last November but they do seem to wear well. I don't buy cheap shoes for myself (as my feet tend to blister up in those types of shoes as often they aren't usually as well padded or lined) so I don't buy them for my daughter either.

Fingers and toes crossed, have just ordered some shoes from the link on page one and returned the clarks shoes. Brilliant that they take paypal so I don't feel I have paid for them as I have plenty of funds in there! Will report back our findings!!

shoe fitting is the same across the board...it goes in measurements called barleycorns this is 1/3". Its the same for adults and childrens feet. I bought one of the startrite feet measure gauges too so you can use it to measure then buy the correct shoe size anywhere. Clarks are a rip off you are no BU. Bear in mind tho width does change from store to store so check its not to tight or loose[smile[

nelix when I went to john lewis they measured DDs feet with the clarks one and said they would do it with startrite one as well as they come up a bit different?

I wish I could ditch clarks/startrite etc but my mum would never forgive me!

PS Take it you're a star trek fan - if not probably best you are alerted that people will think you are!...

I agree, Clarks does seem to have us brainwashed into thinking they are the only shoes to buy. Having said that I'm lucky to live near an outlet village and managed to get ds some black clarks school shoes for £3 so certainly cheaper than Asda. After 4 months the stitching came away (also ds had had a bit of a growth spurt) and they exchanged them for another pair in a larger size free of charge, so I have no complaints really

Eyeballs, you should try Lillifoot in Ewell Village, I find them much better than Clarkes.

Clarkes sold me shoes for DD that had so much growing room she couldn't walk in them what a waste of £30 as they will prob be too narrow by the time her feet are big enough.

LOL shambolic no star trek here it was on QI lol.....

i have done well in geox, there is a shop in covent garden if you are visiting central london. there is a wide enough choice but not overwhelming. they've got some really nice sturdy boy sandals too which cover toes.

hate clarks and start rite, they measure the child's foot to fit their stupid shoe sizes rather than fitting the shoes to the foot.

My shoes I ordered yesterday for dd came today and they are lovely. I ordered two pairs, one pair of sandals and a pair or shoes, both fit well and was only 31.75 inc postage for both pairs. Very very pleased!!

whwre were they from carrielou?

The link on page one of this thread posted by Tsarcharm (sorry I can't do links!!) They were wrapped carefully in tissue and tied with a bow! One pair were clarks and the other chipmonk, have never heard of those before but they seem good quality and well made. We'll see how well dd (2.2) does with them!!

i have to say that i do insist on "proper" school shoes ie clarkes startrite etc, like another poster i always had "sensible" shoes as a kid but i do have rather marvellous feet now

ds wrecks his but the dds are so light and fairylike that i polish theirs up and flog em on ebay when they're finished.

sold dd1s old startrite school boots for £20 last year

AND i shop at the clarkes outlet when i can so even cheaper AND, though this is probably totally contradictory to my ethos - i also will buy lightly worn decent shoes on ebay as well...