Wide fitting shoes for dd (Size 5)

[SirVixofVixHall]

I've posted on this before, but nothing mentioned worked for her, so I'm posting again in hope of some new suggestion.
DD is 11, she is an adult size 5 H, probably creeping up to a five and a half. Since size 4 it has been incredibly difficult to find shoes to fit her. I have no local shoes shop other than a small Clarks and they have nothing that works. We tried the nearest city (Cardiff), but other than a bigger Clarks there didn't seem to be anything. She is too young for adult styles, but childrens styles seem to stop at around a size 3. She is very skinny but has really wide feet (H fitting) with a high instep, and has been referred to a podiatrist as I'm concerned that she may be developing bunions (which I am really worried about, esp as I have always been very careful to get her suitable shoes). This means she really can't have a shoe with a more pointed or almond shaped toe, as so many of the shoes in the teen ranges have. She has a pair of shoes for school, the Startrite "Samba" www.startriteshoes.com/samba-black-leather-girls-riptape-school-shoes they fit her well, but they are the only style they do that does, and she really doesn't want to wear them out of school. So I need to find shoes that are suitable for her age, but are wide enough and natural-foot shaped. Not trainers. Smaller daughter is a size 1, but I will have the same problem with her in a few years.
In my old post someone suggested DMs, but they have the wrong shaped toe and are too rigid for her. I have the same feet and DMs don't work on me either, they aren't wide enough. Ditto Kickers (too shallow). I am really stuck! I've spent hour upon hour browsing online, but to no avail . At the moment she is borrowing my brogues, but they are not ideal for her.

So now I know why Birks don't fit me! My feet go straight across at the toes. As do dds, and yes, she has properly wide feet with a slender ankle, she is very thin and slightly framed, but has these wide feet. Same as DH and I. On the plus side, i always found balancing on one leg in yoga really easy....
This type of foot is often described as a ballet dancer's foot. Wide, but slim, with a high arch. So at least they get an elegant description, much nicer than my old flatmate who used to call my feet "snowshoes".

I call my feet duck feet.

My ds has very wide feet at his toes and has to have as much room there as possible due to problems with ingrown toenails (podiatrist trips are lots of fun ). She recommended crocs for summer time or open toe sandals. For school I find Geox have beat wide selection and out of school he can get away with some wide fit clarks or else trainers. Do you have a Geox shop nearby?

Will have a peep at Vivobarefoot now.

Had a look at the vivobarefoot site, the children's shoes stop at quite tiny sizes, and the women's shoes seem to all be very sporty. They have some beach/water shoes that look good for the sea, although at £50 they are a lot for beach shoes, but they don't have her size anyway. There's a sort of a lace up bootie shoe that would be ok with trousers, but it is £180. I can't justify that when it might only fit for a couple of months. Wouldn't work with dresses either. She's a floral vintage dress and little cardigan sort of girl, so she needs actual proper shoes. Green shoes make shoes to fit most types of feet as they are made to order, they are on the hippie side but simple enough to be ok, she had them when she was younger, but the children's shoes stop at a 1 I think, and the women's are very expensive. www.greenshoes.co.uk/shop/p/women/shoes/vintage-t-bar/1/0/172 The blue style would be great, but getting toward £200 !! I have just ordered these www.angulus.dk/shop/women/summer-sale/shoe-with-laces-and-piping-detail-3544-101/cognac-1166/ as they are in the sale and would look nice for Autumn with cord shorts and thick tights, or with trousers. If they fit that is!! Her feet work better with a T-bar or a lace up than with a Mary Jane, as Mary Janes often cut in around the vamp.

Schuh is always worth a look, if you haven't checked it out, yet. They have a sale on, at the moment.

I don't have an anything shop nearby... I live in a shopping desert, rural area in the middle of nowhere. I am sometimes in Cardiff so can look there, otherwise it is online which is a pain. We did used to have a great children's shoe shop about 45 minutes drive away, but they closed. Then one opened locally, they have closed too. So I'm left with only Clarks, in terms of somewhere to get her fitted. We would drive anywhere within two hours really, if there was somewhere that could sort her out. (Am West Wales).

This feels like my decades long search for a bra that fits. That has been solved by Ewa Michalak and other Polish brands. Oh the joy! I live in hope of a similar shoe solution. Apparently the Japanese have the widest feet in the world, but that's a bit far, obv.

Sketchers come up wide, the women's do anyway, have you tried them. Also Marks and Spencers often do a wide fit dolly shoe, that is in the womens section though.

I did Malcolm, thank you for that. They look as though they would be too shallow , Mary Janes are problematic unless they are really deep, but also the only colourway that would work for her is the black, I might buy a pair to try them as it is good to have a back-up school shoe, but she needs out-of-school shoes most urgently. The other colours all look too sporty and adult to work with her clothes. They look very much like womens shoes to me, and she is only 11. She ideally needs a classic smart girls shoe with a proper non-sports style sole. Something like this www.startriteshoes.com/girls-shoes/classics/jane-silver-girls-buckle-english-classics This is a Mary Jane but is a deep shoe, and comes up more like a G even though it is an F, smaller daughter had it for school last year. A T bar is best though. A classic shoe, with the squarer child's toe box, and a wide and deep shape. I bought her these a few months ago www.boden.co.uk/en-gb/girls-1h-12yrs-shoes-boots/shoes/54019-grn/girls-1h-12yrs-meadow-leather-mary-janes as I'd seen them in the flesh at a Boden party and they were very soft leather, and also wide. She wore them once and they rubbed terribly at the top edge of the vamp, because although they are soft and wide, they are too shallow for her instep, and so cut in at that point. This is what happens with most Mary Janes. I've been browsing Hotter shoes. They are all so middle aged woman though. I saw a couple of pairs that might just about be acceptable, but they have sold out of the fives, so I will have to check again when they get Winter stock in. They also look as though they will probably be too shallow. The depth of her foot is as much of an issue as the width really. DD2 had feet that were essentially little cubes when she was smaller. The shoe shop lady was quite shocked when she measured her!! DD1s feet measure more around than they do in length.

She wants glitter party shoes etc. I did find some in Monsoon that fitted well enough for a party, but only lasted five minutes as she grew. They came up quite wide and had a lower vamp so missed the deepest part of the foot. I had patent party shoes and nice Summer shoes at her age, so why is it so hard now, in the age of the internet, to find something age appropriate and properly fitting? Loads of other parents must have this problem. I spent years not even being able to buy a bra in anything near the right size, having to cut chunks out of the band and sew the whole bra back together, and now finally I can buy bras easily in my size. Why hasn't the same happened with shoes? Children's feet are getting bigger, but retailers haven't caught up. Maybe it is a VAT thing too?

Dd2 ( 17) has little wide feet. We've recently got a lovely pair of red wedge sandals ( her desire for part shoes satisfied but they are more " flat forms" than high shoes) and a pair of delicate but functional walking sandals. Both sketchers and with memory foam insoles and apparently very comfy.

She also found some trainers that fit that we didn't buy.

( she wore startrite rumba for several years and now has angry angels brogues for school - still startrite. Clarks not wide enough )

I have wide feet and buy shoes from New Look; they have a special wide fit range which has quite good variety. Also most of the shoes are real leather and they're inexpensive. I'm also a size 5.

These brogues? www.newlook.com/shop/shoe-gallery/view-all-shoes/wide-fit-black-leather-brogues-_351037501

These loafers? www.newlook.com/shop/shoe-gallery/view-all-wide-fit/wide-fit-black-comfort-suedette-metal-trim-loafers-_367086901

Malcolm the only one shoe of those that comes in her size and fits her is the Samba, that is her school shoe at the mo.

Lockedout- thank you, but those brogues are too pointy, as are the loafers.I would love to find brogues that fit her. She did have Petasil brogues for school last term which looked nice, but they were actually too shallow and not really wide enough either, they were badly fitted in the shop, so they hurt her feet. She really needs a child's toe box. That is why the Samba works for her, because the toe box is wide, deep, and square, and straight at the big toe side rather than sloping inward into an oval like most women's shoes do. Children's feet are not the same as adults, and I am really worried about the possible bunions. She needs a child's shoe, but because she is a size that is also an adult size, getting a child's shoe seems impossible, apart from literally one or two school shoes, and what 11 year old girl wants to clomp about in school shoes out of school? Even if they were nice to look at, which hers certainly are not. They are clompy, make her feet look huge compared to the rest of her, and have an ugly bulky great velcro strap. They are comfortable though, and they look appropriate for school, so they do the job.

Malcolm, I think I was a bit vague in the pp, the t-bar ones don't go up to a five, so there's no point in trawling ebay. Of those styles pictured only three go up to a five, and out of those only the Samba fits her. I telephoned Startrite yesterday as their online size estimator couldn't give me a size for her . I gave them her measurements, and the Startrite advisor said that she is off their scale in terms of width, so wider than their H. They don't have anything at all actually in her true size and she would need to go up half a size to get a bit more width. Even then she sounded sceptical that the shoes would fit, and said that the Samba would be the only possible style. The Samba only goes up to a five and a a half anyway, so this will be the last time I'll be able to buy it, if she gets any bigger there won't be anything for her at all. She gave me the number of the shoe retailers association (or similar sounding name, paper isn't in front of me) to ask for help. I called them, and the man i spoke to has given me a list of independent shoe shops that I have to ring round and see if anyone might have anything at all that might fit her. So that will be my Monday job. I feel as though I am making my lovely little girl sound like a cartoon huge-footed creature, but she has perfectly nice feet that look fine along with the rest of her, honestly!! It is shoes that are the problem, not her feet.

Happy Littles Soles go up to a junior 6, and the lady who runs it is incredibly helpful. She might be worth calling on Monday, even if there's nothing on the website (you can sort by width and depth of shoe), as she's ordered stuff in for me to try before now. They're at www.happylittlesoles.co.uk

Look at Heavenly Feet. I forgot to mention them previously. I think they are sold as normal width but I have two pairs of their boots that have an incredibly roomy toe. They are the only footwear I've ever had that verge on being too wide for me and i have very wide feet.

We have similar problems with our DS.

We are also Cardiff. A word of caution so you don't get your hopes up. Funky Monkey Feet is a lovely shop with beautiful - and expensive - shoes. But both DCs have never had any luck with their wider feet there. We just end up leaving frustrated and sad at all the gorgeous shoes there are, which are never going to be coming home with us.

Geox in winter, Birkies in summer and the dreaded Hotter for school for DD. We are never going to be a shoe obsessed, Jimmy Choo loving family!

Have you looked at red or dead jade t bar in schuh ?

They are a proper 1970s kid shaped shoe very wide.

Also saw done from a brand called " duck feet" that were lovely but ££