How much do you pay for kids shoes / school shoes

Metranil_Vavin

I agree that shoes should not be scrimped on, and even though a pair of Clarks shoes are £30, they are leather, good qualty and I know they will last him for a good while.

suki1001

I despair with my son. I won't touch clarks for him - he has to have really sturdy shoes - we're on his 3rd pair this school year - and I don't have them to hand so I can't remember what brand they are, but they were £45. the only reason I think they've lasted a bit longer is because of the terrible weather we've had so he's not been out as much at breaks.

For my daughter who's 12, she has Clarks BUT, I hate Clarks girls shoes because they are so flimsy - they are fashion shoes. I can't see how they are any better than any other make of shoe. So, she has boys shoes, which she was happy to have and they have lasted from her last school year (partly because her foot growth has slowed down (5 1/2).

jellyhead

The independent shoe shop in my town told me that Clarks are slightly more roomy for my boys who both have wide feet and high instep.

Occasionally they've been able to wear trainers from elsewhere (Nike, usually) but supermarket trainers have hurt their feet. I usually buy Clarks trainers for youngest, but eldest likes airwalk. They are around £20 from Sports Direct, and he uses a marker pen to colour in the grey-ish logo, so he can wear them for school. I buy at least 2 pairs per year. They last much better than the fake ones I used to buy from amazon. He preferred the look of the fake ones, but the airwalk ones last longer because the sole isn't made from dust and fresh air

Since discovering Crocs last year my youngest would wear them all day every day if I let him. I might stop buying trainers, and just buy him Clarks school shoes, wellies (women's short Dunlop wellies, because it's rare to find wellies that are big enough for his elephant feet) and crocs, until he realises that crocs aren't stylish

jellyhead

Also, on the one occasion where Clarks didn't last long enough the store swapped them for free.

kjmtidea

I have 4 boys and always go to Clarks, yes it's expensive but they used to last the whole school year and that's with them walking 3 miles on the school run.

This year however they are not lasting and I am not impressed, I had to replace one pair in the February half term and I will be replacing 2 pairs next week. So I will be on the lookout for a decent replacement

ETA - I don't go to the local Clarks shop because they are absolutely rubbish at fitting shoes and i've had huge problems with wrong size shoes for my kids which resulted in blisters so i go to an independant shoe shop that sell Clarks, far better imo.

choccybuttons

Timberland leather boots at the moment but my ds1 in nursery - he completely destroys the toes of shoes so at least I can polish the leather ones up. Brought some.clarks dino trainer shoes and they lasted 2 months.

lisaann72red

I have the same 3 boys and a girl
My 13 year old is a label fuss pot and £50 spend Lee Cooper Boots currently but Kicker £70 lasted Sep - Dec!!!
My 11 Year old Not fussed on labels yet!! £20 spend Sports Direct Propellar brand He had Kickers £55 lasted Sep - Dec
My 10 Year old Girl Not fussy on label £20 spend BHS
My 9 year old Boy Sports direct Lee Cooper Shoes £13
The Lee Cooper shoes lasted since September but he now needs new ones so these were the best

I would not recommend Kickers I have brought 4 pairs and they have not lasted any time at all never again!!

But if you do go down the Kicker route push the bottoms some are hollowed out soles that indent when pressed Never ever buy these!!

Sunny_spell

My local Clarks shop won't sell shoes that don't fit. My daughter has got narrow feet and I always buy her shoes in either Clarks or Start Rite. Last time we visited Clarks and tried about 5-6 pairs of shoes which were the right size and width but still did not fit. SA told us they were not suitable and I appreciated that they were not just trying to sell them.

pinkshoes

We buy DS (2) Clarks shoes, and usually get them from our local outlet shop, which still has a measuring service, but the shoes are cheaper.

At 2 years old, he couldn't care less if his shoes were last season!

DS has really wide feet, so we can't often buy any shoes that don't come with a width fitting!

jellyhead

pinkshoes wrote: »

We buy DS (2) Clarks shoes, and usually get them from our local outlet shop, which still has a measuring service, but the shoes are cheaper.

At 2 years old, he couldn't care less if his shoes were last season!

DS has really wide feet, so we can't often buy any shoes that don't come with a width fitting!

We don't have an outlet near us I don't think, but when Clarks have a sale I try to get bigger sizes of shoes I know he's had before. And no, they don't care if it's last season's