School shoes - are they destined to always look like this?

[DeliciouslyBaked]

DD1 needed new school shoes. She is in reception. She had outgrown the last pair and they were incredibly scuffed. We bought a new pair, which were identical but a different size and this is what they look like after ONE DAY of wear 😩 The toe is all scuffed already (photo incoming). Is this just what it's like with reception children? Am i expecting too much? Is it a faulty shoe? (She is my eldest in case it wasnt already painfully obvious).

They were from Clarks, but that is our only local shop really, especially at non Aug / Sept time of year. Otherwise its buying online and sending back. Are there more hard-wearing ones out there? She is allowed trainers on PE days, but otherwise it has to be a plain black shoe.

Personally, I found Clark’s school shoes were crap. They scuffed up much more quickly than other shoes. I bought a foot measurer thing and I measure their feet and order online or buy from Sainsbury’s or M&S. I often order from Next and found them to be great. They definitely show wear, but last much better than Clark’s.

Can she wear plain black sneakers? My son wears Nike Court Boroughs to school and they’re holding up well. I think scuffs will always be more noticeable on dress shoes.

I find Clarks good personally.

Could she not have the school shoes that have got trainer vibes? They have loads in Clarks in the school shoe section. They also cover the whole foot so much better for wet/muddy/cold weather as well.

I can’t see the photo yet. How old is she ? I found when my dd was younger she always scuffed hers. We just lived with it and didn’t worry. As long as there’s no actual holes in the shoes. She hasn’t scuffed hers so far, yet, but she’s in year 3 now I wonder if they play differently as they get older? The other difference is they now have to change into outside shoes or boots for play as it’s so muddy so obviously that helps. Could you send in a spare pair for outdoors?

edit - sorry just seen she’s reception . That’s normal, they spend time sitting on the carpet etc.

I was trying to steer her towards those sort but the ones on display were in the "boy" section (her worss - even though our Clarks is actually pretty good at not labelling boys or girls but just having one shoe section) and she took umbrage to that style. She wanted some minimal soled ballerina type shoe and these were a sort of middle ground. I might try a bit harder with the next pair.

Will look these up, thank you

I find some Clarks shoes are worse than others. We had a pair a year ago that actually had holes in the soles. No more wear than any other school shoes.

Then we had a pair that still looked newish after 3 months of wear.

The current ones are holding up but looking battered and one of the heels is wearing down.

I can only assume different quality of manufacturing.

I've thought about getting the foot measuring thing actually. I think i might do that if Next shoes are decent as we do have one close by, so returns would be fairly easy.

That looks normal for young children's shoes to me. Just get some good black renovating polish and clean her shoes every night. That's what I used to do with my children.

Shes 4.5yrs - a summer baby so still very little even by reception standards. OK, its maybe not so bad if its only when she is very young. If its really wet, I do send her with wellies (we also have quite a long walk home) but im not sure whether school encourage her to change or not. She hasn't mastered laces yet so we are still using velcro, which limits options a bit more. Maybe something to tackle over the holidays!

Ricosta are really hard wearing but it does depend on your child and how they play.

DD keeps hers really well but her friend that constantly hangs upside down on the monkey bars wrecks her shoes.

We like Ricosta patent though and they have only been outgrown, not damaged.

We looked for ones that had a rubber tip across the toe. They looked just like the other shoes, formal, but with a coat of rubber just over that toe area. Otherwise they were ditched after one day, as you’re finding.

Deichmann do really good school shoes. My sons were really rough with them but they lasted for ages x

Like this, but less pronounced-
Kickers 116226 Plunk MJ Girls School Shoes Black Patent

Apparently called a toe bumper.

I'm a TA and almost all our kids wear plain black trainers.
My son wears Adidas Tensaurs which are very shoe like rather than a running trainer, perhaps too "boyish" from what you've said about her opinions in clarks!

I never thought I'd buy branded things for kids that grow so fast, but he'd ruined two pairs of "supermarket shoes" before Christmas in reception, it was a total false economy and these we've only ever had to replace for size! Similarly with his normal trainers- even sketchers only looked decent for a week at most but his adidas survive really well! So I would recommend seeing what they have.

Thank you all. Will check out these tips. The clarks shoes were £44 so not even cheap! They might have to do now until the summer (unless they get a hole / start leaking) but I don't want to make the same mistake with the next pair.

My son (Yr1) is on his third pair of Clarks school shoes since starting Reception. I've always got ones with a 'toe bumper' - works brilliantly, zero scuffs (he's never worn out the shoes - had to replace because feet grew!)

In reception my kid scuffed and then tore open the front of every pair of school shoes, I only realised why on parents open day when I saw the push along trikes they could play on - those front of shoes were getting a battering when my son kicked off and let it drift...

When the scuffs came in I used to polish black over the top and it would mainly hide it. It's pretty normal :)

That’s the joys of little ones and school shoes, or any shoes.

they scuff their toes, they kneel down and scuff the toes off the ground. It happens.

i always bought Clark’s shoes for mine and both did well with shoes, I had friends who also bought Clark’s and their kids shoes were all scuffed and old looking within weeks, some children are just harder on their shoes.

Its nothing that good old shoe polish wont fix.

Shoe polish of course !

I feel your pain. We got these in august and I’d really recommend, apart from the design being roomy for the feet (I think so many girls Clark’s are narrow at the toe), they have not scuffed. I like that they are trainery but a bit pretty.
https://www.bgreatershoes.com/products/isabella-patent-black

Until they get a bit older kids are hard on their school shoes!
Best we have bought are Hush Puppies from Deichmann, they are pretty much indestructible and have actually been outgrown rather than destroyed! DD is on her 5th pair in 3 (maybe 4) years

My daughter has got glittery black doc Martin boots for school in winter. Her school is incredibly muddy!

I used to ask DD whether she spent all of Break kicking stones about the playground, her Clarks shoes were so scuffed! She’s 22 now so this is not recent!