Gaping shoes for 3yr old - am I being fussy??

claireac

My dd is 3 and is skinny all over including her feet!!

She needs some new shoes so I thought I'd try my local Clarks, despite not having a huge amount of joy there in the past. So they measured her at 7.5 c to d. Then fit her with 7.5 f's that gaped!! They weren't slipping, but surely being too wide isn't satisfactory? Does anyone know please? I didn't buy them, but was rather made to feel that I was being fussy.

Thanks

Money_maker

Website show the shoes starting at d (4) but f has 319. Looks as though your choice will be limited.

kingfisherblue

No, you're not being fussy. When my children were little, I had a choice of Clark's in my own town, or a concession within a large Mothercare in the next town. Whenever I took my kids to the one where I live, I was never happy with the fit - the staff just seemed to want to make a sale. I didn't drive at the time, so I used to get my (now ex) husband to take us to Mothercare after he finished work and we bought from there.

Since the youngest turned about five years old though, I haven't used Clarks at all. My middle child has disabilities and needs to wear spe3cial insolesfrom the hospital. He used to wear special boots and then wore trainers for several yearws, as these are apparantly better for feet than proper shoes! Anyway, I digress.... the podiatrist at the hospital told me not to go to Clarks, but to measure my children's feet myself in any shoe shop. Then check that the shoes fit at the sides - if you squeeze lightly, there should be a small amount of 'give', but it should not gape. Length wise, there should be the equivilent of one adult thumb nail between the end of the big toe and the shoe. This gives sufficient growing room without being too big. Shoes should not gape anywhere and should fit properly around the heel (not moving up and down as the child walks). It was easier for me, as my children have average and wide feet - narrow feet seem to be more problematic when buying shoes.

A friend goes to Cheshire Oaks outlet village for her Clarks shoes for her daughter who has narrow feet. I know that isn't near you, but perhaps there is somewhere similar? They seem to have quite a reasonable choice at good prices.

claireac

Clarks certainly seem to be very hit and miss!!

MadDogWoman_2

Claire,

I won't buy shoes from the Clarks shop in my local town as it seems to be staffed by young girls mainly who just want to make a sale - my DD's feet have never been fitted correctly there.

I buy her shoes from an independant shoe shop who measure her feet and then find the best fit as they don't just stock Clarks - in fact her first couple of pairs of shoes where Hush Puppies - and are happy to spend time with you to find the right pair rather then get you in and out asap.

MDW

Mips

I can recommend Hush Puppies for small children as they come with 3 different insteps which you can change.

Never really had a problem with Clarks shoes myself, I also use Cheshire Oaks outlet village - got a pair of boots for £8 the other day for my 4 year old.

My little girl is an F fitting. No idea if that is narrow or not

no.1swimmum

They certainly don't sound a good fit. I had a similar experience some years ago they did not have the right size and width for my son so they went up a size a down a width, it was so obvious that they did not fit but the young sales assistant kept insisting that they did. I refused to buy them. I went to John Lewis, shoes cost the same but they were so helpful, eldest son had and still has large but narrow feet and once we spent an hour and a half in the shoe department finding the correct fit, they were brilliant, and would also check the shoes they were wearing and tell you if they still had room in them, saved me many a new pair of shoes. I would not go any where else they were always so helpful and if I wasn't sure they would get another assistant to check the fit, and sometimes they would recommend a different pair of shoes. They also sell other makes not just clarks so can find the correct fit and are not dependant on one supplier

hbloomers

Dippychick wrote: »

I can recommend Hush Puppies for small children as they come with 3 different insteps which you can change.

Never really had a problem with Clarks shoes myself, I also use Cheshire Oaks outlet village - got a pair of boots for £8 the other day for my 4 year old.

My little girl is an F fitting. No idea if that is narrow or not

Kids' fittings generally range from E-H, so she'd be a Narrow Standard, if you get my drift? E being narrow, H being wide


I've worked in Clarks before, and you sometimes do get rubbish fitters, but if they've done their training properly you should get a good fit. Hush Puppies are great for kids. You can layer the instep inserts as well (Yellow, Red and Blue if I remember), to get the fit thats right for you.


I've spent far too long working in shoe shops!

Ink_Queen

My DD used to have very narrow feet (C fitting) and we always found that Startrite shoes fitted better than Clarke's.

claireac

Thank you for all your comments.

I'm going to try to get to russell & bromley this week as I can't think of an independent that is closer than they are! They've always been really good in the past, it's just a bit of a trek and would have been a whole lot easier if our local Clarks was any good. Won't be bothering with them at all in the future.

While I'm shoe shopping I might as well get trainers too, and save petrol in a couple of weeks. Going to be an expensive trip!!

dtc04

I wont go in to clarks anymore, there are 3 near me and dd1 has had pairs from all of them that have had to go back because they didnt fit.

I go to russell and bromley now. My local one is excelent, and they spend ages making sure the shoes fit. I also prefer startrite shoes to clarks, they always seem to look nice longer than clarks, and the last pair I got cost £36 so about the same price.