How much do you pay for kids shoes / school shoes

mrsa

As a mum of 4 (3 boys, 1 girl) I am always looking at ways to cut costs. One thing is kids shoes, particularly school shoes. I usually buy from sales in the next size up, or Clarks outlet stores (pay about £20 for school shoes, which I still think is alot) and shoes will last my boys 6-9 months.
But am finding it harder to find bargains this past year.

A friend of mine took her 2 kids into Clarks main shop and spent £36 each on school shoes and £34 each on out of school shoes...a whopping £140 !!!:eek:

I have tried Asda own which were not made of leather and only lasted 8-10 weeks!

So my question is where do you buy from....how much do you spend....and how long do they last ??

building_with_lego

I've been paying around £20-£25 for Hush Puppies school shoes. (I gave up on Clark's since I found HPs in TK Maxx and they lasted 9 months on my small boy and are still going strong, and fitting well, after a year on my daughter.)

I would pay up to £35 for quality school shoes, my reasoning being that they are worn for a long period each day. Cheaper school shoes are a false economy. For out- of- school shoes we have a mixture of Converse daps, trainers, ballet pumps and, once the weather warms up, Crocs bought in the sales! As they can be rotated more I don't mind paying £3 in Primark for a season's wear, but equally I don't mind paying closer to full price for the Crocs as they just seem to last and last.

Spendless

A fortune! We discovered son was flat footed aged 9 so lots of shoes don't actually fit him and he's now 13 and size 9. Anywhere around the £40-£50 mark and they usually last just short of a school term. If I'm lucky we can occassionally find something in the late £20s -mis £30s price bracket. Outside of school he wears trainers.

Daughter at 10 is around a size 1 has broad feet which limits where you shop as not only shops cater for different widths. Her shoes cost around the £25 mark and we usually need 2 to see a school year through.

We shop either at clarks outlet or brantano.

mrsbb_2

I got my baby's first shoes from Clarks and they cost me £36 (which he has grown out of already) and you're meant to get them measured every 6 weeks! :-/ I now get him measured at Clarks and find them for the same size on Ebay. You can get virtually new shoes that are still boxed and hardly worn for about £8.

Alikay

About £35 twice a year for proper fitted shoes from Clarks, plus between £5 and £15 for canvas shoes or trainers for playing out in 3 or 4 times a year (don't buy expensive play shoes when they just get used as brakes for their bikes or swings ). Wellies and Croc look-a-likes as needed, and a pair of glittery £5 party shoes from Tesco/Asda. Not too bad cost-wise IMO as kids always outgrow or wear out shoes as they're so active.

lolly_896

We go to the Clarks outlet store as a rule and buy them for about £20-£25 but i always try and go for the higher end of the range so NO jack nanos! Lol Active Air or similar. although DS1 are ruined they have done him since September but i'm going to buy him trainers now for the warmer months (I think shoes and shorts look odd)

Will have a look at hush puppies though

2gorgeousgirls

Girls school schools from Clarks £30+. Older daughter has flat feet so am limited to what to buy her.

They wear their school shoes from 8.00 am until after 4pm 5 days a week so am happy to pay as they really get the wear out of them. Luckily they both have slow growing feet so can usually get a full school year out of them (although older DD seems to have had a growth spurt this year and we are on to her 3rd pair).

Out of school they have converse, trainers, uggs (not the real ones) and in the summer flip flops and sandals. They bought the converse themselves with Christmas/birthday money.

mishmash

I have never really skimped on school shoes for the kids, as other posters have said they are in them all day.
I generally buy Clarks or start right twice a year, then a mixture of pumps, trainers and sandals for when they are not at school, however these can be expensive too. My brood are like me with very sensitive feet that rub and blister with ill fitting shoes.
My grandma always said be kind to your feet and they will take you far,

flipper_72

I try to buy from clarks in the sale or start-rite online sale. I only have 2children but even so it is expensive. I agree that scrimping on shoes is a false economy, you either go through more pairs or end up hurting their feet. A friend of mine who earns a LOT of money bought supermarket shoes for her kids and they had permenant blisters one of whose ended up infected....
If you buy good quality shoes and they don't last you can take them back too. Last school year the soles came off a pair of shoes after about 10-12 weeks and I was given a full refund, that money bought the next pair which lasted the rest of the school year.
Usually need 2 pairs per school year, this year we have just had the change up sometimes it is nearer Christmas which always makes me worry I will end up buying 3 pairs.

flipper_72

Oh outside school I buy trainers (branded or clarks again in the sale) wellies, crocs-usually real ones but they had winter non branded ones this time which they loved, boots in winter, pumps for PE and flip flops and neoprene beach shoes for summer.

tessie_bear

i spend £50 ish per pair on school shoes from clarkes for 2 kids, I try and save a couple of quid a week all year to put towards them. Although pricey they wear them all day for 40 weeks a year so in that regard they are quite good value