Are Clarks going downhill?

[Mum1515]

Dreaded school shoe shopping yesterday.
Last year DD started school with 12.5 and by Easter was 13. At home over the holidays she's wearing her 13 trainers and 13 boots (no complaints of being too tight like she did with the 12.5)
She was out with my sister last week and they popped into a little independant store to look at school shoes and because it was quiet got her feet measured and they said 1f, so was a bit shocked when I was told; thinking how is she getting in her current shoes but thought maybe her feet had grown a little. So yesterday we go to clarks and the lady asks what size she is so I said was wearing 13 clarks April - July and wearing 13 trainers over the holidays but was measured the other day as a 1f. DD steps on the ipad and the lady says she is 2E so I query and say are you sure only if she were surely she wouldn't be able to get into any 13 so she says definetly 2E and asks if we would like to try and shoes. We says yes and the lady goes off without asking what style etc.
Comes back with 2 pair of shoes, one non patent which DD hates non patent and would have told the lady this if she had asked and one plain patent pair which we try on and DD looked like a clown in the oversized shoes.
So I say we had this problem last two times your ipad said XXX size (couldn't remember size) and we had to go down sizes. Lady then says that although they appear too big had we thought about lace up shoes because they may suit better?
I said DD is 7 and wouldnt want lace up shoes and informed her I had no confidence in Clarks anymore
Visit another store later that day and DD is a 1 and were advised that 1 is a fraction big but will allowed a little room.

I find they tend to oversize too. DD1 was measured as a 10 the other day, I was dubious as her current shoes are a 9 and don’t appear to be too small (we were going for school shoes as she starts reception next week).
Anyway we eventually settled on a 9.5 (10 were absolutely huge).
Better than under sizing to ensure you have to go back sooner for bigger shoes though I guess!

Hi SoyDora,

I kind of agree re better to be a little bigger but 2 was way too big and to offer lace ups in a 2!

Yes that does seem bizarre! I often find they try and talk you in to what they’ve got in stock. DD is a D width fitting which they don’t stock. Normally an E is fine but the store near me didn’t have a single school shoe in an E last week so they tried to convince me an F would be fine... it wasn’t!

The iPad is total rubbish.

Last July ds was measured 1. Roll on this July, ds was measured 13. I said I don’t think feet shrink? they must be bigger. Chap measured twice with foot gauge as well and definitely 13. So poor ds had been wearing clown shoes for a year.

I bought the foot measuring gauges myself and won't let the frigging iPads anywhere near my kids' feet. To be honest I haven't really used Clarks that much with my kids after they've got them wrong a couple of times... I think they've been trading on their name and old reputation for years.

I took 3 yr old ds there a few weeks ago. Measured as an 8F. The 8F shoes wouldn't do up (velcro). Told them I had same problem last year when buying the canvas pumps with two straps and had to go up to an H, despite measuring as F, to get ones that stayed on with the straps closed. They had only 1 pair in a wider than F fitting. He already has that pair (chunky winter shoes)

Yes! We went a couple of days ago and couldn't believe the dreadful service. They had only one choice for each of my daughters. They had absolutely no idea about sizes- shoes were slipping off dd1s feet and they were insisting they were too small! We walked out saying that they'll be in the news soon with shop closures/receivership if they don't get their act together.

The choice is awful - you walk in actively wanting to buy shoes and can’t!

We went to three Clark's over the course of a week and were given three entirely different sizes.
I'm now looking at buying doc marten school shoes after hearing how long wearing they are

The iPads are a gimmick. I go there for school shoes as they are the nearest for us and I need wide fittings, but none of my kids end up in the size they are measured as. I’m thinking about trying measuring myself and buying online next time. Anyone got any good brands for wide feet and high insteps?

I also only use them as we need wide fittings. I tried next wide fit but they weren’t wide enough. We don’t have startrite anywhere around our local area.

I don’t need to use Clark’s, but if anyone knows of a wide fit g/h in a different brand I’d be interested.

We go to an independent shop but one with a variety of stock including Clark's. They don't use the iPad system and fitting is brilliant.

The shoes are good, they do last forever. Compared to some Hush Puppies my (slow growing) ds had, the Clarks shoes last so much longer before wearing out.

They have gone up in price massively this year though.

Try John Lewis, they have both Clark's and Start Rite and use good old fashioned measuring sliders and common sense.

Clark’s measuring has gone to pieces since they introduced iPad measuring a few years ago. 3 shops measured DS as 3 different sizes/widths in 2 days! There quality is dubious too.

When DDs were in primary I always got them Startrite shoes. So much better than Clarks.

The shoes are good, they do last forever.

Not in my experience! DS (nearly 10) had never made a pair of Clark’s last more than term before they fell apart. Other brands (Superfeet, Noah, Frodo, ) last the full academic year.

The ipads don't work. I have a friend who is a Clarks manager and says the same. I spoke to him about it after two different experiences.

1. DD2 first pair of shoes about a year ago. Measured and fitted. Shoes purchased. Later in the day at home I noticed you could see down the side of her foot and the sole of the shoe! I could actually fit my fingers down there quite comfortably. Shoes were returned.

2. DD1 first pair of school shoes a couple of years ago. Measured to a width that didn't exist. So I asked them to measure again. Came up with an entirely different size. I asked them to measure again as a double check and got a third size! Didn't bother and went elsewhere.

In our area (40 mile radius) we pretty much only have Clarks and 1 or 2 other shops that measure. For my eldest I've actually started buying Tesco shoes and fitting them myself as they seem to last the longest and fit the best! Prior to this we used Startrite but they've now closed in our area.

When I spoke to my Clarks manager friend he actually said the only real training they get is around the ipad and that actual fitting training is minimal because it's assumed that the ipad is correct. It's a shame because they're 10 mins away from us but I just don't use them.

I live near a Clark's outlet and they don't use the iPads. Got my sons feet measured there and bought him some shoes there. The following week he was out with his grandma and she went in the proper Clark's shop in town. She didn't know he had had his feet measured a few days before and he was measured again, this time using the iPad. He measured a full size bigger than he had using the "manual" measurer. There's no way his feet had changed a size in a few days and so I took him back to the outlet and asked they remeasure him. They told me the iPad measured big and they had stopped using it due to complaints. I bought the feet measurer (sorry no idea what it's proper name is!) to measure the kids feet at home but it's rubbish. It doesn't give you the size, you have to put the info onto the Clarke's website and it tells you then, presumably because they think you'll then buy shoes. I just wanted to keep an eye on my kids feet and to go to the shop when the size had changed. It was a faf and tricky to use so I just went back to the outlet every 6 weeks or so to get them measured.

@AngkorWaat kickers are excellent for high instep and wide feet.

I find them fairly useless too. My DD has very narrow feet (too narrow to get a letter on their gauge!) and is still a size 7 when about to start reception. Clark’s tried to sell us size 8F which just fell off her. We then went to our local independent shoe shop who openly said they had no school shoes in her size, to look online (recommended websites) or to get back to them and they’d order some in.

I did the hellish school shoe shop yesterday- in the Clarkes outlet they used the Ipad and there were several choices for my dds however none fitted and we had to go up a half size. Only one came out with shoes.
Went to John Lewis who measured using the foot sizer thing and got exactly the same sizes.
Went to an indie who said my eldest dd had one foot a whole size bigger than the other! Went to M and S and with their shoes had to go up a full size to fit her feet.
Totally demoralising- no idea what size anyone is but at least they all have shoes!

I think Clarkes is over priced and you can get quality shoes at M & S or Next for 10-15 cheaper. When you have 3 thats a lot of money!

I much prefer Start-Rite. Plus they sell foot measurement gauges you can use at home.

Up to size 8.5: www.startriteshoes.com/small-infant-measuring-gauge

Size 9+: www.startriteshoes.com/large-foot-measuring-gauge

DD has had Clark’s and Startrite over the last couple of years - the Clarks uppers were wrecked really quickly, so last year we tried Startrite. Uppers looked great but soles had no tread left by Feb!

We’ve never had any issue with measuring at Clark’s, but we tried others for different brands. Went to a large independent last year (Charles Clinkard) and they were great.

This year we’ve just been to John Lewis and found them fab. Reasonable choice, good measuring service and the staff gave clear advice. We went for Geox, so we’ll see how they last!

It’s all a bit of a con. Shoe fitting by a 18 year old isn’t going to be anymore accurate than a parent feeling them.
If you buy nice leather shoes, they stretch. They are only ‘a good fit’ for about a week then the leather gives and they start flopping around. Ballet pump shoes are the worst.
Foot health wise, you might as well go to one of the cheap places like Brantano (if it still exists).

I am not going to use Clarks for ds(7 and 4) any more. Went into trafford centre on Saturday. Service was good considering it was busy but as youd expect we were rushed through with minimal attention from a nice young lad who looked like hes been taken on specifically for the school rush. Choice was minimal. Older ds is a 3.5 so there was incredibly little choice and what they had seemed poor quality. We really needed the shoes as we go on holiday until school starts so got them.

Was absolutely shocked when it cost me 90 quid for 2 pairs of shoes. Was expecting 70 to 80.

I think they have got greedy and as a result I will be shopping elsewhere.

I also know from experience shoes will end up with holes towards the end of the year. But at that price I try and get a full year out of them.

They also do a promotion of 20% of adults use when you buy children shoes. However the adult shoes I saw were priced as if to take a discount. I actually told the lad but although I like the shoes I wasn't going to waste his time getting a size down as they were £60 for fabric shoes. I have an awful lot of party shoes I associate them with good quality at a reasonable price. Not anymore. I have several department stores near my work and I will be shopping there for shoes for now on. I get a range of shoes brands and they often have sales on.