Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

i want to talk about childrens shoes and whether you get what you pay for etc etc

113 replies

nailpolish · 08/12/2006 12:38

i have bought my children shoes of varying prices

dd2 at the moment is wearing shoes bought by mum that cost £45 (she is 2 yrs old) and she also bought dd1 shoes from the same independent posh-and-v-nice-shop that cost £40

dd1 today got a new pair of trainers from Asda. i spent a while trying to see if they fitted correctily, nice leather ones, etc etc, obv. i am not a trained fitter what ever that is

i just cant afford the trainers in the independent or clarks

will my dd's feet be scarred for life

somehow i dotn think so

i wore hand-me-down shoes at times

DISCUSS

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 08/12/2006 15:27

I've tried the cheapos on DD1 - even velcro fastening.

She got blisters.

Original poster
nailpolish · 08/12/2006 15:28

expat - buy her some thicker socks

OP posts:
moondog · 08/12/2006 15:31

Give her a clip around the ear and tell her to stop moaning.

LittleSarah · 08/12/2006 15:32

Last shoe fitting was a nightmare with dd (2.7), apparently she has wide feet but thin ankles so the right width kept coming off... argh.

I am very lucky in that her dad/my mum/my granny have bought her most of her shoes, all around £30-35.

EniDeepMidwinter · 08/12/2006 15:32

the Buckle my shoe factory shop is in Glastonbury

it is a teeny tiney shop and you cannot guarantee that they will have anything decent - only about 7 styles of shoe

they almost always have school shoes (plain black and navy) in the right sizes though, usually about £19.

GiraffeGotTheLastRoomInTheInn · 08/12/2006 16:18

DD (3) has one pair of shoes from independent shoe shop which usually cost anything between £30-£60 (this time she had boots which were £45, but in the summer her SANDALS were £58. they were nice, but still v expensive. The reason for this is that dd has slightly odd shaped feet; she walks in very slightly and has quite low ankle bones. We found over the first year or so of buying shoes that the Clarkes ones weren't supportive enough and the Start-Rite were mainly cut in such a way that her ankle bone was raw and bleeding within half an hour of wearing the shoes.

So I took her to an independent shoe shop which was recommended to me by a physiotherapist and we haven't looked back. We don't usually get that much choice and decide on a shortlist of about two or three before I can bring myself to look at prices, as otherwise it would be about price instead of whether they fit, and I value well fitting shoes above a lot of things.

Unfortunately sometimes it means I have to go without myself, but I do think children's feet are so important and easily damaged so I make sure she has well fitted shoes always.

She very rarely has a separate pair of trainers as I can't afford to buy fitted trainers AND shoes that expensive. She has wellies and slippers each time as well, so that's bad enough.

I do believe that whatever shoes they wear, they should fit well, and your children may achieve this in cheap shoes as well as fitted ones-so there isn't anything wrong with buying cheap ones ifthey are big enough, don't rub and are supportive enough.

I can't see shoe fitting being a rocket science tyoe training- I can 9 times out of 10 see which shoes fit dd properly before the fitter says anything- it's quite obvious when she walks in them.

So if you tried the shoes on and they seemed ok I'm sure they will be fine.

I did read somewhere that it was better to buy cheap shoes and replace them often than to buy expensive fitted ones too big to allow for a lot of growing roomand leave them on until they are too small and pinch the foot- ie shoes that are the wrong size will do more harm than buying cheap ones.

HTH. In a rambling way.

expatinscotland · 08/12/2006 16:20

she's got lovely woolen ones, naily, that Mummy spent ages sourcing.

MulledRubyRiojaWine · 08/12/2006 16:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MulledRubyRiojaWine · 08/12/2006 16:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GiraffeGotTheLastRoomInTheInn · 08/12/2006 16:28

Oh yes we have ballet shoes to buy too- but we don't buy special party shoes.

Slippers are not from shoeshop though- from John Lewis. Are Start rite ones though as have had cheap slippers in past and they don't seem to stay on at all, in fact quite dangerous on stairs.

I think slippers are necessary in our house,, as dd would slip on kitchen floor without. Maybe not necessary everywhere.

MulledRubyRiojaWine · 08/12/2006 16:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FioFio · 08/12/2006 16:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Mercy · 08/12/2006 16:48

I'm confused now. dd has very narrow feet, she is an F which I've always been told is the narrowest fitting available (in a high-street shop).

Surely C/D is average and F is very narrow?

frogs · 08/12/2006 16:49

Yes, agree 'tis marketing crap.

I bought into it with dd1, cos she was my first. Ds had the odd hand-me-down pair, and dd2 does as well. Ds current school shoes were £6.99 from Lidl and are proper leather inside and out. The laces were a bit cheap, but the rest of the shoe was as good as other makes and better than Clarks. They do them every year around late August, but they were gone in a couple of hours, so worth keeping an eye on their website at the right time of year.

I think handed-down is fine if the shoes have been lightly worn, and they are the right size and width fitting. I wouldn't hand down shoes that have been very heavily worn, but if they were grown out of after 6 weeks or so, they're worth passing on imo.

Vertbaudet do reasonable price shoes as well, and sell a shoe gauge too.

imdreamingofawhiteKITTYmas · 08/12/2006 16:51

I bought a pair of Clarks cruising shoes for DD2 today, wasn't going to but her soft shoes were causing her to slip as she's trying to climb on everything, she's got the cutest little chubby baby toes couldn't get them into regular shoes. £18 though, she had better not start walking next week. If it were Summer she would be barefoot all the time.

DD1 spends most of ther time in a pair of plastic high heels that are miles too big for her.

frogs · 08/12/2006 16:53

Mercy, E and F is average, G and H is wide, C and D is narrow. Not sure what happened to A and B...

LIZS · 08/12/2006 20:32

Mercy, Clarks will often fob you off with a wider fitting if that is what they have in stock. dd is a narrow ankle/heel/instep but wider across the foot so we often have an E from Startrite even though she'll measure a D. Very few Clarks shoes and boots ,and even fewer sandals, Doodles and trainers , come other than in a F or G fitting so we avoid.

We've got a mixture of Geox, Startrite and Skechers atm. Umi don't seem anything like elefanten used to be - they used to fit dd really well .

ZacharyZoo · 09/12/2006 10:34

My oldest DD is 12, and i always bought her Startrite shoes, Clarks never seemed to fit her properly. But now she has started senior school, she would rather eat her own hair than be seen in Clarks/Startrite, cue buying crap fashionable shoes that last 2 minutes and lots of tears every time we go shoe shopping! God i wish she was three again and happy to wear her beautiful Startrite shoes! Agree that "occasional shoes" are OK if not properly fitted, but every day shoes for school should be a well fitted pair, i worry that her feet still have a lot of growing to do and all the care i took when she was little will be ruined as she cannot show her face at school unless she is wearing some daft ballet pumps from Qube!

caterpiller · 09/12/2006 11:10

NAILPOLISH, Where are you from? Near Elgin? I'm from N.E Scotland too.

pacinofan · 09/12/2006 15:30

I am aghast at the cost of childrens' shoes and tend to buy Clarke's winter shoes only in the sales. I am also not at all embarrassed saying to the shop assistant when she pulls out shoes at £40 plus 'sorry, they are too expensive'. There usually follows a brief lecture on how you should buy them because ... blah, blah, blah but sorry, I just don't buy it.

During the summer we buy 'doodles' which are inexpensive enough and for nursery we tend to wear wellies at the moment to get there and the nursery like the kids to wear good old fashioned pumps once indoors, suits me, £1.99 at Woollies.

Do we really think that every family in the UK can afford £40-ish for a pair of shoes? I think not.

GiraffeGotTheLastRoomInTheInn · 09/12/2006 15:40

So do you wait for the sales? I only ask because when my dd needs new shoes it is sometimes the sale time, but what do do you do if they grow out of the shoes and it isn't sale time?

pacinofan · 09/12/2006 15:44

I say 'tend' to do sales because yes, I do get caught out and have to pay full price from time to time.

Occasionally have bought cheap and cheeful but they have been very hit and miss.

Wish Tesco would introduce a decent range, would willingly buy there as I think that generally their goods are pretty good.

mammaofthree · 09/12/2006 15:55

I've just bought a pair of little boots for my 18 month old twin daughters from an independent shoe shop near us, and that came to £64 with a discount.

I've bought from Clarks quite a lot for both my daughters and my 4 year old son, but they always seem to measure incorrectly or don't have in the styles we like.

While I'm happy to pay for more expensive shoes that will be worn all the time, I don't mind getting them 'cheap' trainers, special occasion shoes or sandals, that won't be worn a lot.

brimfull · 09/12/2006 16:20

Zacharyzoo I totally agree,dd now nearly 15 is a nightmare with shoes as they won't wear anything from clarks etc and is soooo fussy.All those yrs encasing their precious feet in expensive shoes to see her flopping down the street in what look like slippers fgs!

Mercy · 09/12/2006 16:53

I'm still confused .

So if dd usually wears an E or F fitting, why does every single sales assistant comment on her narrow feet? I rarely go to Clark's btw.

Anyway, we usually buy shoes from Startrite, simply because many Clark's styles are unsuitable for little girls imo. At least Startrite do plainer designs - and yes, whatever happened to Elefanten?