Children's Shoes Cost A Fortune! Where Do You Buy Yours?

Quackers

blue_monkey wrote: »

OP, if you go into Clarks and get your LO measured, come home and then go online and you can get styles delivered to the shop of your choice. You can then try them on at the store and see if any of them are OK for him. Choose different styles. You can get all of the details here:

http://www.clarks.co.uk/helpandInfo/CustomerCareCollectFromStore

They can order them for you whilst you are in the store too.

Just ask the sales assistant.

Sometimes this is better because the staff will know what styles will suit your childs foot better.

And they can check whilst you are in the store whether they have the shoes at the warehouse so you know straight away.

LilacPixie

Clarks for us too. I only have one child in shoes at the moment, the other just wears socks.

blue_monkey_2

shazrobo wrote: »

when my two sons were little they had clarkes shoes too, as i believe they fitted better than any other brands, they are 13 now, and will only wear trainers, and at an adult size 15 :eek: they are costing me a fortune, any body know of any where cheap for bigger sized mens shoes please??

Shaz, have you tried M&M Direct? They sell loads of not so common sizes so you might get lucky on there.

tattoed_bum

shaz try www.wynsors.com they are a british based company and they go up to a size 15 in their boys/mens shoes .
they have reebock trainers at a size 15 for £25 .

my son wears trainers mostly and at age 6 he is in a size 3 ,so i usually get him sketcher trainers from amazon they are only £16 but he outgrows these before he wears them out which for a 6 yr old is really good .

Mazcabs

Blimey first pair of shoes at 18 months you are lucky... DS had his first pair at 10 months but they did last til Christmas and since then he has had 2 pairs but all have come from Clarks. Cant seem to find anywhere near us that does Startrite so just always go there... mind you will have a look out for the Clarks seconds shops near me....

Krystaltips

My daughter had a new pair of shoes every 3 months for her first 2 years... Thankfully she seems to of caught up with herself now and has been a size 11 for about 10 months now... I stopped getting her shoes from out local Clarks shop because they only ever seemed to have the ballerina style ones in her size which I don't think are any good in the middle of winter... They also told me, if I wanted to order a pair in a different style I would have to pay a couple of quid to have them delivered to my home and I wouldn't get that back if I decided to return the shoes to store... I now go to the same shoe shop we were always taken too... Friary Shoes in Lichfield... They have a much wider range and they do Start Rite aswell as Clarks... They will also spend a good half an hour fitting shoes to my daughters sideshow bob feet... And last time included an inner sole for 1 shoe for free...

eyeonspain

I think that Clarks shoes are worth every penny. Here in Spain children's shoes are very expensive, in fact what you pay in Clarks is what you pay in the market here. It is not unusual for parents to spend 50 euros on a pair of sandals and there is usually no foot measuring service available, well I haven' t seen one in five years. I also notice that children wear shoes in Spain long before they start walking. A Spanish friend of mine is has ereently had a bunion operation from wearing shoes that are too tight. I wonder if there are a lot of foot problems in Spain.When I go to the UK Clarks is one of the first places I take my children to get their feet measure, the service is on the whole excellent.

daveyjp

We have a golden rule to never pay full price for shoes for any of us - there's always a sale on somewhere.

Clarks outlets are where we usually get them. £15 or so. We bought a pair of startrite boots for £17 while on holiday from an independent shop having a sale. They were over £30 in Clinkards.

Don't trust the measuring either. Our daughter was measured at a 7 - she's a 5.5!

jellyhead

I always buy Clarks for my 2, and for myself when I buy proper shoes (I like Docs but threw my final pair away recently, have told myself I'm going to wear grown-ups shoes from now on!)

My boys never fit into the size they are measured at, and that's where the Clark's fitters (or other fitters I suppose) are important because they know which shoes fit different shaped feet and are better than I am at telling whether a shoe fits properly.

Both of my boys have had fat wife feet with high instep, and Clarks have been the only shoes I could find to fit them - the lady in the independent shop told me to go to Clarks while they were babies because Clarks were a bit wider than the Startrite. She once sold me some Ecco shoes but they were £41 and if Clarks had had his size in stock (usually only one style is suitable for his feet at the moment) I'd have gone there instead . Not only is he a fast growing child like Damzel's, in size 10 at age 2 but his feet were too awkward for trainers, wellies, sandals, slippers etc. so proper clarks shoes were the ONLY thing he could ever wear.

He fell into a fountain so we needed new shoes next day for playgroup, hence me paying £41 for Ecco :eek: His Clarkes are usually £28.

My older boy's shoes cost £38 but twice now he's worn the same pair for the entire school year, he's a little child who doesn't grow much. Once he was 9 or so and his feet had lost their baby podge I was able to buy cheap shoes from asda etc. but the quality was awful and they needed replacing very quickly - also he says cheap shoes have inferior soles which make your teeth grind when you walk and make your feet much colder in winter.

My 3 year old has new Clarks shoes around 5 times a year :eek:

modgit

Krystaltips wrote: »

I don't know where you are in the country but there are places that are like Clarks shoe outlets, they're Clarks shoes but cheaper... There's one in Willenhall Nr Wolverhampton but wouldn't know anywhere else...

Hi, where about is this? From Dudley so it's not too far, but never heard of any outlet near!!
Thanks