I can no longer afford Clarks or Start-rite but my daughter is a G width.

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, I have always bought my daughter Start-rite shoes. She is a G width, so wider than the averadge F fitting.
She needs new shoes again and we are really short of money. The car has had a lot of work done which we wern't expecting and we are left with practically nothing.
I wondered if there was anywhere I could buy discounted start-rite or clarks? I've looked on e-bay and they are pretty much the same price as the shops.
Either that, or do any other cheeper makes come up wide?
She's had to also have new trainers for school, I managed to get them in the sale. She had them on for 2 hours before wetting herself and soaking them. She does have a problem with this at the moment.
Part of me thinks are the expensive makes worth it? I suppose she has to have a wider fitting though.
If you have any advice, I'd be greatful.

Urgh .. shoes! I was astounded to see that buying my dd shoes cost more than my shoes!!

What I tend to do is I pop to mothercare to get her feet measured (dont trust the others :p) then get Brantano to recommend some. They seem to be fairly decent and not vastly over-inflated like other makes!!

DD then picks what she wants .. typical girl tho! loves her shoes! going to have to keep an eye on that

I hope your dd is ok, sounds like your not having fun at the mo

Thank you, no it's not too great at the moment. She has SEN's and we've had to work so hard to get her potty trained and she was doing so well but has recently lost all control again. [aaagh] She might have a UTI, so she's being tested for that.
Do Brantano do start-rite, Clarks etc?
She has had Recosta in the past and they were a good fit, but cost even more than Start-rite.

I get my DS measured in Clarks, then buy BNIB shoes on ebay. I take him to the shop while he's wearing them to 'make sure they still fit'

Last month I got a lovely pair of new boots, and some great shoes, brand new for £20 (for both, not each)

I've been keeping a look out on e-bay. The cheepest I've found are £29 inc P+P. For the extra £5 or so, I'd rather go to a shop and have a choice of shoes and have them fitted.

make sure you choose the 'not specified' option too, as they don't always specify new in the category.

Try the outlet stores too - thanks to this thread I know there's one near me now

also - www.shoesforkids.co.uk/ is good.

Brantano do clarks and startrite.

Can you not wash her trainers and let her wear them for a little while??

I wonder if you could ask on freecycle? perhaps somebody has a pair their dc has outgrown?

Has she any 'saving' money im sure its situations like this that its ok to use their savings?

What about grandparents could they help?.

Still can't believe everyone knew what Padboz ment, but not me.

If come back to this Padboz, then I'm sorry for sounding like a Psycho bitch from hell. I'm not, honest!

Oh she will be wearing her trainers until she's out grown them. She's doing this all the time. At least once a day, sometimes up to 8.
It just means I can't sell them once she's out grown them.

I have been told by many Clarks and Startrite fitters that they dont make a shoe wide enough for dd2Also they always said "oh she needs the next size up mum"Yeh thats why there was still plenty of room.So i thought arse to them and now i just buy what seems ok .Supermarket shoes actually run quite wide.Also i reckon that if you keep putting a child in a wider shoe then their feet will just spread anyway.

Hi mml.

I have found the shoeshop Diechmann to be very good for childrens wide fitting shoes.dd weras afos so needs wide shoes to accomadate them.Her last shoes were suede/leather and wide fitting and cost ten pounds from there.Worth a try if you have one near you.hth

Can you ask on the 'children's clothes and shoes for sale/wanted' section on here?
I've bought second hand shoes and boots for DD3 which have been perfect (a pair of Clarks light-up trainers and Next uggs) and she looks very well-dressed

By the way MummylovesLucy, did you see Alexiamumsnet's post asking you to email her?

Clarks outlet shops also in Dewsbury and at Glasshoughton Junction 32 shopping outlet in Castleford if you are in W Yorks.

I have got half price Clarks in John Lewis too. No sale in in rest of shop, and they were seasonal shoes, no apparent reasson for discount but I wasn't complaining!

Sale on Kid's Clarks

Oh, good point. I'll try on there.

There's a clarks outlet shop in Bridgend too if that's anywhere near you.

Brantano are good too.

our mothercare has a clarks concession in it and I managed to get both boys new leather shoes last week for £5 each (last seasons styles)

I have also found deichmanns have a good selection of wider shoes (we get trainers there)

Ds has a problem with the ligaments in his feet so he falls over alot, in order to help him I came up with the bright idea of buying him some boots to keep his ankles straight when he walks so he wouldn't fall over as much. Worked like an absolute dream, since buying them in August he's fallen over once as opposed to three/four times a week, he's not complaining of pain so they work like a dream. However, the only ones I could find that were sturdy enough were farking Timberland bloody boots at farking £60 a pair!! Mine cost £20 in the sale. It's scandelous to charge this much for a pair of childrens boots. At least he's stopped falling over though.

MLL - I realise it's the wrong time of year, but I put my DD in crocs for the duration of the soggy shoe stage (I also realise that your DD is older than mine was so this may not be an option for preserving her dignity, unless you can market it to her somehow) - other than that, Clarks trainers survive the washing machine pretty well, which gets rid of the smell.

Crocs are also very wide - wheras cheap trainers and plimsolls seem to come up very narrow (I empathise - DS is an H fitting and I ended up, against my principles, with Clarks pumps for him because the cheap ones were like clown shoes in length by the time he could get his foot in width-wise)

If you can hold out for summer, canvas lace-ups work for wide feet (if you can teach her laces or tolerate doing them yourself).

Go to clarks every single week, as they often have sales on their shoes and your daughter's width fitting is unlikely to change. Buy the next size up.

Also, if she doesn't have the pink fetish many girls of her age suffer with, boys' shoes come wider than girls' shoes as standard, as boys tend to have wider feet. So you could just get her some cheaper shoes in a boy's style.

here

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Crocs are great for the summer, and for in the house in winter. She can't wear them to school though. Not even black ones.

Sazisi- Could you please link me to the page. I've looked but can't find it.

Not even black mary-jane style ones [hopeful]?

What size is she as I have two girls with hobbit feet so they have to have wide shoes too.I get theirs from The designer outlet village near Sheffield which has a clarks shop.

Thankyou for this thread. I've just spent £27 on some Clarks shoes for DD, and that was the sale price. I'm going to take them back and buy some of the clarks ones from the discount shop or ebay instead.

I did buy her some from Tescos last summer but they rubbed HUGE blisters on the back of both feet. She's only 2 so never complained and I felt like the worst Mum in the world

I object to spending so much money on shoes that won't fit in 6 months. Okay I've just spent £60 on some boots for me, but I've been coveting them for months, I waited till they were in the sale and I expect to wear them every day through most winters for the next 15-20 years... or more.

Thinking about it what about Doc Martens as they seem quite wide and my eldest lives in them when she isn't at school.

If I did have any that fitted you are welcome to them as they just get shoved in the recycling bin.