Girls' shoes - sort of "stop pimping our kids" but wider issue than sexualisation...

[Lemonsole]

Around this time last year I started a thread in Politics about the polarisation of children's shoes. Thread

Interestingly enough, I almost apologised for starting it - in those days before the Feminism board I struggled to convince many MNers that it was a political issue.

Today I went into Russell and Bromley inthe quest for DD's school shoes, and there on the shelf were these horrors

It's not only the ShoeZone/ Brantano end of the market producing inappropriate footwear - but now the "higher end" is getting in on the act, too. Incidentally, after my explosion, the assistant tried to suggest that they weren't "real" shoes, but dressing-up shoes. Yes, at fifty quid a pair..

I'm drafting my email to R and B as I type... any thoughts on what on earth we can do about it all?

I'm not daft - I know that Lelli Kellis have ALWAYS been vile, and always will be. The presence of vast quantities of glitter and jewels makes it very clear to young girls that any temptation to fun or activity suggested by the fact that their shoes are pumps should be quickly damped down and limited to watching and looking pretty. But they are now getting into a whole new league with these heels.

Boycott R and B? Where in the bloody hell will I be able to buy Start-rites? In our city it is Clarks (shite) or R and B or nowt. And I'm not ready to just order shoes by trial and error over the internet.

Interestingly enough, after their initial attempts to play down the shoes, the assistants seemed to share my views, particularly on the grounds that a children's shoe department marketing itself as a responsible choice should not be stocking such items.

I don't mind make-up as long as they are just playing dress-ups with it. I also had some as a kid- my mum did Avon at one point and I used to get lipstick samples and Little Blossom stuff.

In agree with you. i recently did a post in AIBU about a pair of red glittery high heels in Accessorize for age 3yrs. i was so angry. I dont know if many other people know this but high heels derive from stiletto heels designed by a man to make women swagger when they walked and to increase the appearance of the length of the leg.

why on earth do we want to encourage 3yr olds to swagger? why cant shoes be in a childs style rather than an adult, you dont have to dress like a teenage to look nice, children are beautiful-they dont need to look like adults.

I spoke to the manager who told me that they wouldnt make them if people didnt buy them but no she wouldnt put her children in them either. I said we couldnt buy them if they didnt make them-she said it was down to the parents choice and then finally that "at least we arent as bad as places like primark that sell thongs and padded bras to five year olds".

this apparently has become the test of decency, if you are better than primark you are fine.

i emailed the company and they said you dont have to buy them, they are part shoes for special occasions and not for every day use.

they were called the strictly floral sequin flamenco shoes and are still available on their website

I agree. I am fed up of having to replace DD's shoes twice as often as her brother because they end up filthy or falling apart.

As for the high heeled efforts in Monsoon - arghh.

I am also not keen on these with wedge heel!

I have read this thread with interest, I am a buyer for a shoe shop - not a large chain a small independent so we don't have huge clout.

However it is noticeable that boys shoes tend to be far more practical and robust in many more ways than the girls. They often have toe guards, anti-scuff devices, more of them are washable and they come with extra tough leather in a lot of cases.

I have lost count of the times we have put in orders for girls shoes, sandals or trainers in navy, brown, green (or various other colours apart from pink ) only to then receive notification that the choice has been cut from the range due to lack of pre-orders, but we can still order it in baby pink or fuchsia

There are lots of parents of girls who do prefer pink and will always go for it in preference but we also want to offer choices to those who don't, yet nine times out of ten our plans are scuppered.

We can't sell what the manufacturers don't make and it is so frustrating. It's not for want of trying I can assure you all.

Our autumn / winter orders are already in with all our suppliers and I reckon almost half will be cut because the blues, browns, reds and oranges we have chosen will not have been bought in big enough quantities.

We regularly get asked "What is the market looking for?" by our suppliers and we always answer - practical girls shoes, robust but attractive in colours other than shades of pink" but really it is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Mind you often mums with boys despair too at only getting a choice between blue or brown when they would like red or green or anything else just for a change !!!

As far as the LK debate goes - just do not get me started as I'll never stop ! We sold them for one season in their early days but found the quality didn't live up to the price tag and they were not a good deal for either consumer or retailer on the whole. Some were ok and some parents were happy but the majority were not.

I will always continue to pass on the requests we get from customers and hope that eventually someone will start to pay attention - maybe this year I will actually get to see a decent choice of colours and styles for both girls and boys - I'll live in hope anyway

That's a really interesting post, 80sbabe. None of it surprises me. Gah.

This makes me dread DD starting school.

You were right to complain.

80sbabe I completely agree about the lack of choice in boys shoes as well. I am incredibly lucky in that 'skate shoes' seem to be the in thing now so there is a decent range, as that and canvas shoes for tree scrabbling are all I will buy for my 2 DSs. Before they came into fashion though, I had a terrible time trying to find them shoes that weren't just naff looking, plain black trainers or covered in 'sports' logos, which is not an area I want to find myself in. I well remember being in high school and the Nike Air Max shoes coming out. The poor parents who were suddenly being harangued for £90 shoes at a time when a can of Coke was still only 25p, and the shoes weren't even especially good quality!

I wasn't sure whether to be proud or blush when DS1 pulled me up mid-moan once in a shoe shop though. I was bemoaning the lack of choice of boys, or indeed unisex shoes and pointing out the half a rack of boys ones versus the 3 racks for girls and he (aged 7 at the time) walked along the girls rack pointing out why each one was unsuitable. "has a heel. Open toed so useless for running and climbing. More heels. No ankle support" etc etc. I was so caught up in the unfairness of there being more choice in the girls shoes that I hadn't even noticed that there was a similar lack of sensible choice

I do think they are 'special occasion' shoes though, I have never seen a small girl in high heels except for at the occasional party.

My DD has Lelli Kellies - white pumps with strawberries on them, not sexual in the slightest. Let's keep a sense of perspective here.

I am far more concerned with what teenagers are wearing to school. I saw two girls on Friday with skirts that barely covered their bums, that really made my blood boil. What the hell are the parents thinking - why do head teachers allow this?

PiousPrat no need to be I was just the same when I first started my buying of stock. I would walk into these rooms and there would be five or six tables overflowing with styles of girls shoes and one (and a half sometimes if I was lucky) of boys shoes to choose from.
After a while I came to the same conclusion as your son, that 75% of the girls shoes were often totally impractical.

I still do not understand why most toddler and first walking shoes that I see for boys have a bumper toe and the girls have a plain soft leather toe. Do female toddlers not also fall over, crawl occasionally or scuff ?
Oh no - silly me ! Of course the girls all sit nicely, legs crossed playing with dolls and not being boisterous at all so they don't need protected toes

It carries on further up the scale in a similar vein - girls all need flowers or butterflies on their shoes don't they and boys all want dinosaurs or footballs on theirs !!! Girls don't need toe covered sandals. What ever for ? They won't be riding bikes or scooters or kicking balls will they ? !!!

Oh I do get cross and as a parent of two boys and two girls I see the frustration and the gaps in the market for both sexes.

Some shoe manufacturers are wiseing up - I am seeing more girls winter shoes and boots with waterproofing and gradually some are introducing more choice for the boys. They do seem to be the European manufacturers though - sadly the UK companies are much more stuck in the gender specific way of thinking, which is a great shame.