Where are all the narrow toddler shoes??

[Mumblebumble1]

Had my 15months feet measured at clarks as he's starting to walk, they measured him as narrow width.

BUT they have no shoes in narrow width, not a single pair in store or online. He tried a pair of standard widths in store but was told by clarks they're too wide and will rub.

I've been looking online for days and cannot find any narrow fit shoes for pre walking boys ANYWHERE! Where are they?? I can't have the only boy with narrow feet!

Do I just leave him shoeless, or go for shoes that don't fit?? Please help!

You need to go to an independent shoe shop and look at European brands. Failing that, Startrite are narrower than Clarks, but in my experience (albeit my DC are all teens now) the European brands were a better fit. My DS who is now 19 is a D width, which doesn’t actually exist - I was so glad when I stopped having to buy him shoes - it was a nightmare when he was younger right up into his teens. My DDs are all very narrow too, but his and eldest DD are the worst.

Some brands to look for would be Garvalin, Richter, Ricosta, Superfit, Primigi, Petasil. We’ve had recent success with school shoes for my DDs with Froddo but never heard of them when they were small - not sure if they do toddler shoes but if you can find them then they might be worth a try too. DS also wore some Geox when he was small, but as he got older, we found they seemed wider. Don’t know if they got wider, hod feet got narrower, or if they just weren’t as good a fit as he got older. (He’s also completely flat-footed so that complicated things for him too)

I would say though that we didn’t get proper shoes for any of ours until they were solidly cruising and almost ready to let go and walk independently. The older two were both walking around 12months and had small feet so it was hard to get anything. DS was a 2 (Eur18) and DD was a 1.5 (Eur17) and it was very hard to get proper walking shoes that small so I certainly wasn’t doing it until we really needed to. DD’s first shoes were actually Kickers Pre-walkers, but they had a solid, firm sole until other pre-walkers so were fine for walking outside.

Startrite has loads of shoes available in multiple widths. I think Clarks are known for being wider so he may not even need narrow in Startrite. But I’d get the Startrite measuring gauge- it has tape for the width too and DIY measure at home. They have guides and videos on their website to help. I’ve done it for both of mine, never got it wrong, and Startrite are great quality shoes, loads better than Clarks where tbh I only hear bad things about the school shoes falling apart.

Shoeless until he's ready to walk outside.
Then an independent who stocks several brands. DS is a teen, and still has narrow feet....

Another suggestion of an independent shoe shop. My narrow-footed girls have had a lot of Ricosta and Froddo, the occasional Petasil, Superfit, Bobux.