Black school shoes, which ones to buy?

[Bess21]

Can anyone recommend which black school shoes to buy or what shop to buy them from? I want to buy velcro ones and I would obviously like them to last a while for a boy who like most boys will wear them through in no time. Any reviews would be great, thanks.

My son always wore start-rites (clarks' heel was too wide for him). Aged 10, and a size 1 he was somewhat fed up of wearing velcro shoes. As the school allows trainers (as long as they're completely black, with any silver stripes or labels permanent markered) we went to Sports Direct and got Reebok trainers for half the price of start-rites. These have lasted rather longer than previous shoes.

I always buy the Claris basics ones. Just plain black leather with two Velcro straps. No seams, patterns, toys or other gimmicks.

My reasoning for this is that any decoration on the leather will weaken it, causing the shoes to fall apart much quicker, and true to fact, neither of my children have managed to trash a pair of those shoes before, despite trashing numerous wellies, trainers, and a pair of Lego kickers!

www.clarks.co.uk/p/20340626

that's the same pair ds has colditz - they are very sturdy and well made

They are, they're great. Ds has had them for five years now.