Clarks shoes

poe.tuesday

I used to buy clarks shoes for my kids, it was the done thing, not that anyone told me I had to buy my kids their shoes from there it was more a historical pattern that parents blindly followed (me included) - but we are the only country that has this obsession with kids shoes, in Europe, they don't have these hang ups and it took a while for this to finally dawn on me - as long as the shoes fit, are flexible and preferably are leather (so that they breath) then they will be fine - added bonus to this new found shoe freedom is that my kids no longer wear those boring shoes from clarks

as for kids with wide feet etc, kids all around the world have wide feet and they don't have all these shoe options with variable width fittings - how clever of clarks to have such a good marketing ploy - for decades it has suckered us all in

balletshoes

The wide feet thing isn't really a marketing ploy I don't think - my DD's feet are usually an F (they have been an E) width fitting, my niece is usually an H. Depending on which shop you go to, I can pretty much guarantee that if a shoe fits width-ways for one of the girls, it won't fit at all width-wise for the other. My niece really struggles to get proper shoes to fit her, sis takes her to Brantano and Clarks usually. Oh, Monsoon pumps fit her too, sis often buys them in the sales - and niece can wear Crocs too.

We used to have a fabulous Clarks outlet shop just 10 minutes up the road - I always bought DDs shoes there, and sis would bring my niece and nephew over once or twice a year to get stocked up too (always at least one third off the full price, often half price, and regularly bogof too). I think it got a bit too popular for kids shoes though, as they now only stock adults, luggage, bags and accessories.

****kara****

My kids only wear shoes from clarks because they have wide feet. Plus MIL works there and pays for them it's handy because she knows what shoes are carp and returned a lot.

Just don't buy the one's with the toy hidden in the sole

If I could buy cheap shoes then I would rather then clarks because they are a tad expensive imo. My daughter has one cheap pair (croc type) and she absloutely loves them. She wears them more then her clarks shoes lol

property.advert

The way I look at it is that Clarks are expensive but if they cost £30 and a cheap pair cost £10 and they last 6 months, then the extra cost is only 77p a week or less than the cost of a Sunday paper !

Have you had a couple of beers down the pub ? bought a take away ? bought lottery tickets ? or frittered money away on anything in 6 months ? If so, then you can afford Clarks shoes. In fact, you have found the internet because you are on this forum which means you can go online and do surveys instead of reading this drivel and earn the £20 you need to upgrade your kid's shoes !

demonicangel

I buy Clarks for my girls, I would buy from Startrite but would have to do it online and dont want to take that risk even though I am very confident in fitting shoes now.

I have tried buying dd2 cheaper shoes but she is a D/E width and unless I go for cheap shoes with no growth room, there is just no point.

Dd1 is very heavy on shoes, she got through three pairs of M&S ones in one full term! They were bought on 3 for 2 and ended up costing more then Clarks. I found the Daisy ones last her the best from there, but not the new Daisy Watch style. I swear the soles seem to be getting thinner on them.
I bough the Dolly Twistt style for her and they would have lasted a while except that I had to take them back twice as the soleat the front came unglued. The same happened to dd2s ones.

Our Brantano is crap, they dont do any Clarks or Startite, just Hush Puppies which I hate, horridly hard leather and only good for wide feet, Dd1 is an F width and even with all three footbeds, they were still too wide. Most the styles in there you can get cheaper else where!

fly_dragon_fly

beginning of september i bought my son a pair from tescos at £18 and the last a month before the top had scuffed away and i was polishing his shoes everyday to hide it.

his nan spent £60 on a pair of school shoes and a pair of sandal and i have never had to clean his school shoes and they look like new.

i will let them continue buying him clarkes i cant afford them but they can

LilacPixie

I buy startrite from a small independent shop. I do not like the fit of clarks for my kids.

boiler_man

Love to know best place for wide shoes - have a nightmare with DD feet. H width in Clarks with high instep - they can never find a shoe wide enough to fit her!!

starnight_2

My DS only wears shoes from Clarks, not only due to having wide feet but he also has orthotics. Meaning when they measure his feet he normally needs the next width up from that again to fit him otherwise they pinch his feet. I have tried cheaper places but to fit the width of his feet including the inserts they are too big size wise. So Clarks it is.