School shoes and trousers that actually last?

xmaslolly76

My little lad is the same he is only 7 and gets through trousers like no ones business. I just buy cheap ones now and replace them when needed have found the tesco ones seem to last the longest even compared to the expensive ones. We have done the lecture on looking after his clothes and he has got better but i suppose boys will be boys and in the rough and tumble of their play these things will happen he is very good with his out of school clothes so can only presume that it is when he is with his m8s that they play rough and the inevitable happens. My daughter never has this problem her uniform will last her all year other than possibly having to get a couple of new white blouses as they get really mucky and you just cant get the collars clean grrrrrrrrrr.

bagby

Same with my son - aged about 7 - started to buy cheap shoes as he was going through them monthly - after the last pair (which lasted a day before the tops of them came off) realised that he was deliberately trashing them because he wanted to wear trainers like all the other boys. I wish he had told me. I was even down to stitching the pie crust back onto the shoes myself. I also told him (like a previous poster) that he would go to school in shorts if he ripped the knees in his trousers. That did the trick. He's now 12 and really couldnt care less about his appearance - which I hope is normal for some boys!

Spendless

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Educate him in looking after his belongings and making things last - it's very moneysaving.

Your answer is exactly the reason why I rarely post about personal stuff on mse anymore.:rolleyes:
If I wanted advice on how to educate my son on these matters I'd have asked. I didn't, I asked if anyone knew of hardy wearing trousers and shoes. I have no objection to suggestions of patching trousers or wearing plimsolls, but your post just comes across as you being sarcastic. I realise you probably do this for fun to get a reaction and I've just bitten but please go and amuse yourself elsewhere. Next time I will put you on ignore.

Oldernotwiser

Spendless wrote: »

Your answer is exactly the reason why I rarely post about personal stuff on mse anymore.:rolleyes:
If I wanted advice on how to educate my son on these matters I'd have asked. I didn't, I asked if anyone knew of hardy wearing trousers and shoes. I have no objection to suggestions of patching trousers or wearing plimsolls, but your post just comes across as you being sarcastic. I realise you probably do this for fun to get a reaction and I've just bitten but please go and amuse yourself elsewhere. Next time I will put you on ignore.

I'm sorry if you've misread my post; if I'd meant it to be sarcastic, you'd have known about it! I'm not the only person to make suggestions about how to get a child of this age to look after and value his belongings.

Surely one of the ideas of MSE is that members are encouraged to bring their children up not to waste precious resources? Sometimes it's worth tackling the cause of the problem rather than the effect.

Lunar_Eclipse

jenhug wrote: »

I wonder if Dr Marten shoes would be more hard wearing?

Yes, they are very hard wearing. Excellent suggestion, often on the very limited shoe style choices for private schools fyi.

We have the same problem with two girls. Both have very slim feet (D width so Clarks are out completely) but go through shoes very quickly, even without excessive running around the playground or walking to school. I do however buy good quality leather shoes at around £40/pair. Eldest is on pair number 4 this academic year, youngest on pair 3 (can't recall) with worn out velcro. Utterly ridiculous.:mad: I can however remember it was only a few years ago that my eldest lasted almost the full school year on one pair of shoes!

fernliebee

Usually I agree with tackling the root cause of the problem with kids, they are intelligent, and lot's of people underestimate how much they understand ,However, in this case I think it is a bit unreasonable to expect children to be worrying about looking after clothing, which in my opinion is unsuitable for the job. Most school uniform is made so children look smart, which while they are in the classroom is mostly fine, however after being 'trapped' indoors for most of the day, it is hardly surprising they want to run around and let off steam, and get rid of some excess energy! I feel that children's uniform should be fit for purpose, and then IMO it would be totally reasonable to ask them to take care of their clothes. Probably on my own here, but it is only my opinion!

As far as hard wearing trousers go, could you send him in black jeans or similar and see what school say? As a pp say's primary uniform is a guideline and is not compulsory, although some schools take a hard line, you can contact your LEA, as they are not supposed to. What about charity shops and free cycle? At least wouldn't cost as much when torn.

As far as shoes go, what part wears out? The sole or the upper? If the sole then you can get them re-heeled to stop wear, if it's the upper you could try rubbing dubbin (waxy polish) into them every night. This helps water damage and scuff damage. HTH.

ETA- could also try choosing simple lace up styles as they last longer, and laces can be replaced very cheaply, whereas worn velcro means new shoes.

themaccas

Hi
I know this feeling!! My DS2 is currently on his 4th pair of school shoes this year yet we have only paid for 1 pair - they have all been Startrite shoes too from John Lewis who sell Clarks as well. We bought his first pair from john Lewis and they cost around £40ish , they broke after about 8 weeks so we took them back and got them replaced with no quibble. We have had to do that twice more and each time JL have been fantastic and just replaced them. I will be buying ALL DD and DS2's school shoes there in future.

As regards school trousers, we used to find that Tesco were the best but alas no more. Now the very best ones are Trutex ones, they do cost quite a bit more and DS2 has to have these as are required by his private school but several shops that sell school uniform sell them - JL, independent department schools or you can get them from schoolblazer dot com. He has had his current ones last for over a year which is amazing as he plays loads of football and is a very boisterous little boy!

Good luck

xmaslolly76

I can vouch for Kickers shoes they are expensive but DD and DS get through one pair until they outgrow them unlike the clarks shoes which they were recking within a few weeks :-)

ladylumps45

my daughter is on her 3rd pair of shoes since sept last year (shes 12).the first pair were from clarks and i ended up taking them back for another pair as the quality was awful and they lasted her 3 weeks.for 35 pounds i thought this was awful and it was the top of the shoe where the stitching had come undone.
they happily exchanged them for another pair and said the first pair must have been faulty.
the 2nd pair lasted her 4 months and wore out which was down to her.in now bought the 3rd pair from evans as she has wide feet and find the quality great.has anyone thought that clarks shoes arent quite the quality they used to be for the money or is it just me??

anonymousie

Clarks quality does seem pretty poor on older kids shoes TBH- I guess you never know with little children, as they need re fitting so often anyway.

We now get startrite for DD2 (the others are in adult shoes from adult ranges) at Gordon Scott (local indepenent small chain).

I am very happy with these, mainly because of the brilliant customer service at GS- bits fall off or stitches fail and they replace, no quibble (at one point they even replaced with a bigger size for DS as, though the shoes were only 6 weeks old he had grown). Latest occurence with startrite shoes was DD complaining "her heel hurt". THese shes are 6 months old but still fit fine- they had a look and gave us an insole as they thought the lining had worn a bit- and she was fine- no charge and "come back if it is still a problem" as well.

Trousers wearing at the knee in a 9yr old- would get shorts from me for the summer! DS was happy to wear shorts even in his last year at primary (and now has shorts instead of jeans as he is growing like a weed and every weekend his jeans were short:rotfl:).