Non-gender specific children's shoes- do they exist?

[gallicgirl]

wasn't sure of the best place to put this so do let me know if you think it would get more traffic elsewhere.

DD is 13 months and on the cusp of walking so I'm going to have to fork out for proper shoes at some point soon. At the moment she wears little soft leather slippers I suppose, from Twinkle toes, to stop her slipping on the floor.

Looking at Clarkes and Start-Rite all the girls shoes are pink, red or purple Mary-Jane style with daft names like Tallulah, and the boys shoes are all grey, blue or brown walking shoe style with names like Speedy.

Is there something inbetween? Do yellow or green shoes exist? Does it even matter or should I just grin and bear it until she's old enough to wear a less supportive shoe?

I got DS some lovely green ones from Clarks for his first pair, it was about two years ago though. Girls shoes are getting horribly sparkly and pink at the moment though. And they look very impractical.

Have a look at Ecco & Geox on line.

Kickers?
Converse?
DMs?

www.kickers.co.uk/c/kids/juniors/?facet=ads_f2_ntk_cs:%28%22Unisex%22%29

these are awesome

I had the same problem in Clarks Gallic. DD ended up with a pair of "boys" blue shoes with a dinosaur on them that I had to bully/beg the sales staff to let her try on. FFS.

Have a look at www.happylittlesoles.co.uk They are split into boys and girls, but at least the girls selection have colours other than red/pink/purple, plus there are several in the 'boys' selection I'd happily put a girl in iyswim.

pootlebug what a lovely website

I did eventually find blue boots for DD1, but it drove me mad. She had red and blue tops and trousers and a burgundy party dress. She did not want the worst imaginable pink coloured shoes.

Converse

I used to just buy boys' shoes for dd1. Come to think of it, she is now 6 and still wearing boys' shoes - a pair of rather nifty navy chelsea boots.

I got some nice shoes from ogamigam.com

I hate the pink sparkly vs brown ugly thing that so many shops (even John Lewis) have going on but I find you do have to spend more for non gendered shoes. I've had success with Petasil brands and Garvalin. One Spanish and one Italian. Maybe Spanish and Italian people are just less stupid about gender roles for children.

Thank you for the suggestions everyone.

I'm tempted by the silver Kickers but DP rolled his eyes.

< innocent shrug >

I'm not averse to putting her in boys shoes and clothes - I just want more choice than pink!

Depends what your DD wears, but in the Clark's boys' section I love the brown Cruiser Lad shoes (the grey ones aren't bad either), and the cream Cruiser Time shoes: www.clarks.co.uk/p/20349700 I'd say all these are unisex.

Thinking of getting one or the other for my DD.

I like the dinosaur shoes a lot but I think they're trickier to match with clothes.

I love the monster shoes on the Ogam Igam website. Even the pink ones are nice because they're not fussy.

She wears all sorts; leggings, jeans, dresses, red, purple, blue. definitely very little pastel pink though.

DD (1) has red kickers which are fab! DH went with her to buy them from an independent shop near to where we live and completely flummoxed the sales staff. All of the girls shoes were pink or purple and bleurgh so DH quite rightly pointed at the red kickers and asked to try them. Queue panic from sales staff about him not really wanting 'boys' shoes and suggesting (I love this ) that he should wait for me because I would have a better idea of what DD needed.

Brilliant! Haven't laughed so much in ages!

Ah excellent sport.

I was tempted to ask exactly what the anatomical difference was between girls and boys feet and if that was the reason for the different designs.

DS has red kickers boots. They would be great for either boys or girls & are very robust indeed.

Well we went to Clarks today to get her measured and I was amused when the assistant pointed to the pink end of shelf for suitable shoes. She was quite good though and got a couple of boys' styles when she went to see what was in the stockroom.

We bought a pair of doodles which are pink but a bright fuscia/raspberry pink.

Looking on the happysoles website mentioned by pootlebug, I found these fabulous shoes:

www.livieandluca.co.uk/shop

I would like to buy a pair of each style and commission some adult sizes!

Love them all.

Both my DDs were in Kickers boots until they got to school shoes. They are fab - look GREAT, come in a range of colours, and start at special baby styles suitable for new walkers. We had red ones, white ones, maroon ones, purple patent ones... Can't recommend too highly.

look at geox, ecco, ricosta, pepino, my ds4 and dd have both just got some lovely pepino shoes, hers are 'girly' they are red, t bar style very simple and very cute, there were some others that were lovely in apple green etc, my ds4 has had some apple green pepino shoes, also red etc and they are pretty unisex.

will try and find a link for you :)

www.zalando.co.uk/pepino/

here you go this site has loads, some are more boy/girl but they def have unisex as well, or some nice girls one iykwim! :)

www.zalando.co.uk/pepino-nippy-velcro-shoes-red-pe913a008-302.html

my ds4 had these, one pair in red, then the next time in green and his new pair are blue! they have all worn really well, they are lovely adn light and comfortable, hence buying the same style three times in a row as his feet have grown, he has just chosen a diff colour each time!

www.zalando.co.uk/pepino-nippy-velcro-shoes-red-pe913a008-302.html

www.zalando.co.uk/pepino-edyta-red-pe913a00f-302.html

my dd has these ones, yes the are girly but they are lovely and simple, we have had lots of compliments (she got them last week, her first pair of shoes!)

i am trying to find the apple green ones i liked, unfortunately dd has wide feet like her brothers so they didnt fit her :( but they were gorgeous!!