where can you get decent, but cheap, school shoes from?

[lucykate]

we normally go for clarks, and bar growth, they do tend to last the whole school year. went for cheaper ones once, and they were wrecked pretty quickly by comparison.

so, is it false economy to buy cheap school shoes, or are there cheaper alternatives out there that really do last?

Come to think of it though, ds has some black Shoezone trainers for school PE. They have lasted over a term so far - obviously better made than the girly shoes

Nor me, but it bothered dd.

Riven I think by the time DC are the age of your DS's then they have the common sense to judge for themselves how well shoes fit, at which point I will absolutely be heading for ShoeZone/Brantano/wherever. Whilst my DC are "little" I think I will continue to be paranoid buy them more expensive shoes for as long as I can possibly afford it (but still need a source of cheap wide-fitting trainers ).

Dd has very narrow feet - I struggle to buy 'off-the-peg' shoes that don't gape all the way round.
The Shoezone ones seemed okay when we bought them but in teh 4 weeks she wore they they seemed to stretch - and were soon gaping all the way around her foot.

I give in and buy startrite now. From a lovely independent shop. I buy two pairs a year per child so that works out at around £140. Bit much, but I offset that mentally by rationalising that almost all of the dc's clothes and school uniform including wintercoats are hand-me-downs (I have generous friends with older children ) and apart from shoes the only things I buy them are socks/tights, pyjamas adn underwear. I occasionally supplement their wardrobs with the odd top/pair of jeans, but really not very often

in the 4 weeks she wore them, not they!

Arf, just re-read. Ignore spelling mistakes

Mmm, am on the fence on that one Riven. I grew up in Holland and Germany (we moved about a bit) adn I remember having my feet measured when buying shoes. So for me it would be non-British but Dutch/German paranoia
Add to that the fact that dd was slipping about in those shoes that were too wide to the point the velcro kept popping open (she had to pull it sooo tight to keep her feet steady it hardly had any grip as she had gone past the grippy bit and was practically trying to stick velcro to fabric)
Ds has standard fit - he fits into anything wich is brill.
But dd and her skinny feet are a whole different ballgame. Sadly.

m and s cheaper than clarkes but leather and scuff proof

yes cheaper false economy (i know cos i bought them last year)

well, we have decided to head off to the galleria outlet centre and try charles clickard (often have clarks and start-rite in there), tk maxx and i think the clarkes outlet may do kids shoes but cant be sure.

Ooo, that sounds good misdee - lots of options there. (I always look in TK MAXX but sadly there do not appear to be many childrens shoes in our one...)

yup, loads of choices there. they have a choice there as well, which is old Next stock.

I always try to get the dds school shoes from the Clarks Outlet shop at Gunwharf Quays. I get them measured in the local Clarks shoeshop then off we go. Can be a bit like a rugby scrum in there at times (ie school holidays!) but worth the saving I think - we can usually get shoes for about half the price. DD1 has large (long) feet but they are also very narrow so wouldn't risk the online shoeshops, although Littlewoods Direct look to have some decent school shoes for a good price.

I've just followed some of your advice - printed the Startrite measuring guide and measured my daughter's feet. I fed the results into their convertor - "L2 H" was the result. I get the H (width I'm guessing), but L2? Anyone know what L2 is? The shoes she's in now are 13s - so it can't be size 2?

Shoe zone for me as well. I may need to buy two pairs a year but at about £7.99 - £9.99 a pair it still doesn't work out that expensive. I buy their PE trainers from there as well and they do last all year and then they wear them as their regular trainers for the summer holidays!

It's mutually exclusive - you can't get proper quality at cheap prices. Yes Clarks are over priced, but I don't believe you can get quality leather shoes for mch under £20, excluding sales, etc. Shoezone et al are cheap and poor quality, and often not even leather, but fine for 'disposable' shoes. I've bought SZ for myself before now so am not averse to them but they are generally a false economy for normal, active children who are hard on their shoes.

Am reading with envy.
DS is 13, wearing size 10 mens shoes so it's got to be Kickers to last a whole academic year.
£65 bloody quid

I brought some great school shoes for Olivia in September from a brand I'd never heard of before called Chipmunks. I was fed up with the Clarks shoes I usually buy because they always fall apart!
I know it's only October but her shoes still look brand new! I would strongly suggest you take a look at their website if your looking for good quality and surprisingly affordable shoes chipmunksfootwear.co.uk/