Children's shoes con

property.advert

I work on the principle that I am better qualified to choose my child's size and check whether there is sufficient room than a 16 year old school drop out.

[Deleted User]

I stopped going to Clarks. Both my children have HH width fitting. And Clark's just don't seem to stock that in their shops. I tried going at different times., not at the end of school hols etc. I also found that Clark's shoes tended to be too big when they fitted my son's width fitting.., and I am sure that was hardly of benefit to delicate foot 'bones'.

I found Chipmunk shoes bought on ebay were wonderful. Nice and wide, and reasonably hard wearing, and not too big lengthways. And a third of the price of Clarks shoes lol. Neither of my children have any sign of feet malformation. U don't really need a machine to tell you what size a child's foot is. U just need to find the right shoes and check with your 'finger poking' that they fit well in every direction.

ailuro2

I wish Clark's shoes and boots were still available for my 13yo DD, they don't have very much in her size, but she's got narrow heels, high instep and wide across the toes, so they never seem to have anything to fit her. The only boots we could find to fit her fall apart in a few weeks so it's a false economy. Even if we could find more expensive boots they'd be around the £100+ mark, which is much more expensive than Clark's, so I'm a fan of Clark's, not because of their fitting but because of the longevity of their shoes and the variation of widths and sizes they have available.

We never had a problem in Dundee Clark's, maybe it varies from store to store. I think you do need to use common sense and always check them yourself too.

Caroline_a

property.advert wrote: »

I work on the principle that I am better qualified to choose my child's size and check whether there is sufficient room than a 16 year old school drop out.

Huge assumption here. One of my daughters worked at Clarks as a Saturday and holiday job whilst doing her A levels. Before she was allowed to measure childrens feet she had to go on a fairly comprehensive course showing her how to do it correctly, and how to check fit, etc.

My children always had Clarks or K shoes (same shop in our town), and they have no problems at all with their feet. I do remember how expensive they were though - if they are £30 now then they are relatively a lot cheaper than they used to be -I can remember paying £25 for my 32 year old when she was under 10.

FBaby

I'm with you on this one. Clarks rely purely on their -false- reputation that they are THE proper shoe retailer. I think their shoes are very disappointing and their staff are nothing more than sale people pretending to know about shoe fitting...

My children are both E fit, and they often don't stock them. Twice I've been told she is borderline E (almost D), but then when they don't have any Es in stock, start their speech that an F would be fine. I went with it once, and surprise surprise, not even a month later, they had expended and they were totally loose on my DD's feet. I find the quality very disappointing too.

My kids are now size 6 and 5 (adult) and I go with what they find comfortable. I've accepted that they will mistreat their shoes and therefore prefer to buy cheaper (not totally cheap) and replace more often. I refuse to buy a £40 pair of shoes that will only last a few months before falling apart, don't fit that well in the first place, just because they have CLARKS on it.

One brand I was quite pleased with once is surprisingly NEXT, but I don't think they do these sizes (at least never seem to have any).

emmylou83_2

My DD3 is a H fitting and I struggle like mad to find her shoes in Clarks. Usually they only have 1-2 styles in that size. I do get her measured in there tho so I know what size she is, but generally but her shoes from other retailers. We have had a pair of sandals from clarks, fitted by them etc, when she was 2 yrs old and within an hour of her having them on her feet they were blistered to hell. Took them straight back for a full refund. DD1 had E fitting width from there, and insisted on those silly shoes with the doll in the sole. Within 3 weeks her heels had gone thru the holes in the bottom and the wood had blistered and rubbed her heel. Again, took them back and they exchanged them for a different style without the doll.......
So my experience is that they are very good if there are problems with the shoes, however, i find that they usually last no longer than a good pair of Skechers. DD2 had a pair of Tesco value shoes last yr £3.50 and they lasted her from the Sept til June with not a scuff on them!!!!

mrcow

property.advert wrote: »

I work on the principle that I am better qualified to choose my child's size and check whether there is sufficient room than a 16 year old school drop out.

I agree.

Especially the holiday staff they bring in during the summer who are often particularly clueless. Why someone would trust them over their own better judgement is questionable.

Fitting children's shoes really isn't that difficult. I'm not disagreeing that Clarks make quality, durable shoes - they certainly do. But for crying out loud, make sure they fit yourself.

koalamummy

Totally agree with several posters on the issue of the very poor quality of Clarks shoes. I tried them once for my oldest son as being a first time parent I was fooled by their marketing. I found them to be cheap and almost plastic...definitely not decent quality leather Further to this when he had one of his pre term follow up appointments after lookoing at his feet the physiotherapist felt the need to reiterate the importance of quality footwear for the healthy development of pre term feet. I will never forget her facial expression when I told her that I had taken this seriously so had taken him to Clarks the previous week! :rotfl: She was a true professional though and never verbalised her sentiments

Further to this I did buy one other pair of Clarks childrens shoes last year for my younger son....hoping that they had improved as I had severe SPD and the Clarks in our local shopping centre was as far as I could physically manage. More fool me is all I can say to that! Unfortunately I still found them to be cheap and poor quality.

System

When i grew up i never had my feet measured but my feet are ok. However, i never trusted myself with my childrens feet and always had them measured. Even now i take my 16 year old son to Clarks to have his feet measured for his school shoes. I guess that will stop when he no longer needs shoes for school.

koalamummy

I have been the same with having feet measured though now for my older son I just get his length measured as although he is only 12 I cant get childrens shoes to fit him due to his currently size 10 shoes :rotfl: