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

[nailpolish]

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

Bamzookie may be right in being irritated at the plimsoll rule, for more than financial reasons. I remember finding something ages ago that said children shouldn't wear plimsolls all day - it wasn't this link: www.feetforlife.org/download/2578/Looking-out-4-their-feet-2.pdf but it said pretty much the same thing.

I wouldn't muck about with hand-me-down shoes or shoes that aren't fitted properly. The bones in kids' feet are really soft and damage can be done if the shoes don't fit properly or if they're too rigid.

But the cost of shoes is mental. If you can get to a factory shop, you can save so much. There's a Clarks factory shop on Seven Sisters Road in north London. You can get discontinued shoes for £14 there. Brilliant. But it IS a depressing shop though, it has to be said.

I think it depends. ds spends the whole summer in doodles (£12 not bad). but now that winter is here, I've spent a small fortune on some boots from a posh indep shop and they are fantastic. Waterproof, furry inside, light enough that he can run around in them comfortably. He will wear them every day all winter and therefore i think they ahve been worth the £40. especially given that i will not need to buy him wellies or indoor shoes as these boots can be both.

it is extortionate, but he has stopped growing so fast too, so I think they will do him until the sun returns. and they don't rub his feet at all.

he is always in slipper socks/bare feet at home though. never shoes. so his feet get to 'breath'

My children have had all their shoes from an independent shop, except for 1 pair my son had. Clarks have fit my children wrong each time. Their wellies I buy from Woolies or Mothercare, up to now their plimsols were from M&S but DS1, age 5, has just had his first pair of properly fitted plimsols. Their shoes I get from the brilliant independant shop. Last Friday my youngest got his 3rd pair of shoes for £26 and my daughter got a pair of Gore-Tex boots for £42. They really are fab and I have got what I have paid for but I wasn't expecting them to be so expensive. I wouldn't go anywhere else for their shoes and would never buy shoes, boots or trainers without having them properly fitted.

I am sure all of us have worn shoes that didn't quite fit and do you not remember the pains in your feet later? Of course badly fitted shoes are going to damage the still soft bones in children's feet!

I agree you get what you paid for. I bought ds some cheap school shoes from Brantano. They lasted one month, then the stitching came undone and the inside sole kept curling up under his foot. sigh...
Likewise, I bought dd some boots from Brantano (had them fitted in the shop) but over the space of a month they stretched and became way to big for her...

However, I am fed up of getting the wrong shoes fitted in Clarks. Both ds and dd have had shoes fitted wrongly - on the last occasion they tried to sell ds a pair of shoes one whole size smaller than he had just outgrown!!
Dd has ended up with blisters, or ends up with shoes so big her heels slip in and out of the end - but the sales assistant is adament this heel slippage is normal

When it comes to children shoes I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place - Clarks are unable to measure my children properly, but the cheap shoes I fit myself for them don't seem to last... (sigh...)

I think it's worth it for shoes they wear for every day. (I agree geox ones are brilliant). But not dressy shoes. I saw some very pretty ones for dd today (£55 StartRite) & thought, nah, what a waste. Even if I could afford them, which i can't, she'd only wear them a few times.

My three always have Clarks for school. I don't drive, so we have a 25 min walk to and from school. I have tried buying school shoes from Asda, but they're never comfortable and don't fit properly. I always break out in a cold sweat when the three of them need shoes for school all at the same time, but it's worth it. Trainers we can get away with. I usually go to JJB sports as they always have good deals on good make trainers. DD2 (8) is really into those T90's at the moment as he was given a pair by his cousin. He recently pooled his birthday money and bought some 'Heely's'. I wish he hadn't bothered...

i had clarks for ds in the summer and had to take them back cos the velcro wouldn't stay over (he's a g fitting and has a high instep) - he had just started walking and his shoes kept falling off every 5 minutes. When i returned them they had no shoes that weren't velcro so didn't buy any more.
I was really luck and found a lovely pair of shoes in an independent shop reduced from £40 to £15. They are Andanines (Spanish) and are really soft and lightweight. He has worn them everyday since he got them in September (as they are his only pair of shoes) and they still look really good- would last ages. Will defintely keep them as a play pair for dd.

My Mum lives in Spain and has got the dc some lovely shoes over there.

I have had DS's shoes from Clarks. He was measured in two different Clarks shops on the same day by inexperienced staff and got two v different sizes! I aam always amazed when I go to France. In most towns they will have one or two childrens independant shoe shops selling fantastic shoes and boots. But they are expensive but DS has now had three pairs over the summer and now and all have lasted v well and would def. have them again (primigini, falco and aster) and have found them in shops here too, and luckily in the sale!!