Help! Daughter wrecking/wearing out shoes in a week or two

enya_ntfc

Shame you are in Liverpool, in my village we have a Doc shop which sells seconds, you can get a pair for £25. Don't know much kids ones are.

nicki_2

Thanks for all the help.

The problem is that she's in a ladies size 5, she's only just gone into that size though so at least any shoes I do buy her now should fit her for a while So trying to find school suitable shoes is tough. I had a look online today at DMs with her and she likes the occupational ones Now I just need to find them somewhere cheaper than £60 so I can afford to buy her two pairs so she can alternate them. I think a certain auction website may be my second home for the foreseeable future!

newbutold

I know you don't want to pay out for Clarks but I found it is really a false economy to buy 'cheap' school shoes. Clarks do school shoes in size 5 and above. I know boys go upto men's size 9.

Have a look and see if there is a Clarks outlet store near you, you can make some goods savings for the sake of buying last seasons styles.

Dunroamin

nicki wrote: »

Thanks for all the help.

The problem is that she's in a ladies size 5, she's only just gone into that size though so at least any shoes I do buy her now should fit her for a while So trying to find school suitable shoes is tough. I had a look online today at DMs with her and she likes the occupational ones Now I just need to find them somewhere cheaper than £60 so I can afford to buy her two pairs so she can alternate them. I think a certain auction website may be my second home for the foreseeable future!

Why?......

nicki_2

I'll be buying her two pairs for when she starts secondary school in September so I can spread the wear between two pairs, if her feet get wet (and considering how far she's got to walk when she gets off the bus there's a good chance of wet feet especially in the winter) she has another pair to wear the following day. I don't have an airing cupboard to dry them out overnight like my mum had when I was growing up. ATM we are literally 3 minutes walk to the school gates and she can wear wellies or snowboots if necessary and leave them in a bag on her peg in the cloakroom no problem and wear her school shoes in class. I can't imagine her doing that when she starts year 7, especially if its "not cool".

I'd rather invest in 2 pairs in August in one go than to do what I have to do ATM, send her to school in trainers while I go out to buy her new school shoes as she tells me at 8am in the morning that the shoes are wrecked :mad: No I am not exaggerating, she has done that to me in the past. But the best one yet, Friday night she wore some conver$e style shoes to Guides and although a little worn on the sole they were fine. She never said anything about there being any problem with them. Yesterday she wore them to go and visit her dads family in Cumbria, about lunch time I got a text saying her nan was taking her for new trainers as there was a hole in the sole of her conver$e ones. I said okay, I knew she would be needing new ones soon anyway and it was saving me buying a pair. Last night my daughter comes home in the new trainers (size 5, she went out in a size 4 - she told me THIS MORNING that her shoes had started to pinch about a week or so ago :mad:) and throws the carrier bag with her old ones on the sofa. I was curious as to this sudden hole so I take them out to check the size of it and its the size of an egg and right through to the inner lining :eek: I swear they were fine on her when she went out yesterday morning!

She'll have to wear her old school shoes tomorrow until I can get to Asda for a temporary cheap pair of size 5's until I next get paid. Why can the shoes never go on or just after payday? Its always got to be a week or so before.

InaPickle

I used to work in a children's shoe shop.

Start Rite tend to be more robust than Clarks' shoes, although in a size 5 they tend to be called Rhino/Miss Rhino, and Clarks' tend to be called Bootleg as they like to make the distinction between 'childrens' and 'teen' shoes (and most size 5s are at secondary school by that point). It's fairly unusual to see a child work their way through a pair of Start Rite, but it does occasionally happen as with any other type of shoe.

Equally, you can't get them everywhere, but Hush Puppies shoes are pretty darn robust.

Have you considered a pair of Kicker's boots? Size 5 would be an adults, which cost about £60, but they tend to be very robust with thick soles. Perhaps you could find an outlet as well, but whether they would fit would depend on the width of her foot as well as they only come in a fashion fit ('F' fit). It would also depend on the school's policy on boots.

As for the suggestion of going to the podiatrist, the majority of children who are heavy on their feet have no foot problems, they are just either very heavy on their feet or careless. However, any podiatrist worth their salt will tell you to get your daughter into a decent, strong, fitted shoe like Start Rite / Clarks etc as if she does have any foot problems, she will need a good, supportive shoe that fashion shoes sold by the likes of cheap shoes shops just do not sell.

The idea that your daughter may have to contribute some of her pocket money to replacement shoes, however, may ensure that their lifespan dramatically increases rather suddenly...;)

newbutold

I forgot about startrite, they are well made & tough but slightly more than expensive than Clarks if I remember correctly. Also bare in mind a lot of high schools don't allow you to wear boots. Also I would not be buying her two pair of schools for high school. If she is growing pretty fast you just won't get your money's worth before she out grows them, that's if you go down the clarks/start rite path.

If they get wet stuff newspaper in them and put them on the radiator, or take the hair dryer to them, worse scenario on the odd occasion that they may be wet the following send her in trainers with a note for her teachers explaining why.

2 pairs of school shoes would be a waste of money in my opinion. Wait till she gets in to her 'labels' and is wanting uggs & Paul's boutique etc you'll need your money for that! Lol

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Bear in mind that some kids, if they don't like the style of shoes they are being made to wear, will deliberately drag their toes along the ground and scuff and scrape them to ruin them sooner.

lostinrates

Dunroamin wrote: »

Why?......

Its better for foot health and better for longevity of shoes.

the_cat

I might just possibly consider 2 pairs once I had determined that more expensive shoes were not going to go the same way as all the cheap ones, but I would definately only buy one pair the first time

£60 on an experiment in shoe wear is plenty! To double it without knowing DD cannot trash these too is just daft imo!