Alternative to clarks?

Spendless

Re- 'it's how your son walks'

When my son was around 9 I got sick of how many shoes he was going through in a short space of time, I grumbled about it on here and got told to teach him to look after his stuff better.:D Then I grumbled to someone in RL who more helpfully suggested he may be flat footed! She turned out to be correct. He got insoles.

Just have a look at whether it's a problem to do with his feet first.

GobbledyGook

If it's how he walks - where is the damage? Is it because of the way he walks (I wear insoles because of the way I walk - my Nana used to despair at the state of my shoes)? If it's not I'd get on to Clarks HQ, 5 weeks is no time at all for a pair of shoes to last.

I find startrite better than Clarks now. Until winter I always went with Clarks, but I think the quality isn't as good as it used to be. Also if you have an outlet place anywhere near you have a look at there. There's one near us and it makes the shoes far cheaper (last years 'style' but black school shoes and trainers are black school shoes and trainers imo!)

dandelionclock30

As long as the shoe fits properly then just get anything thats reasonable. Plenty of places sell kids shoes, like Asda, Brantano, shoe zone etc.

theoretica

If it is the way he walks it might be worth talking over with a physiotherapist, though may depends on how old and aware he is, and how big the issue. Better to sort it out now while he is wearing out shoes than later when he wears out knees or ankles. I rebalanced my walk a couple of years ago which was really odd to do (I know how to walk!) but worth it and probably cheaper than a lifetime of insoles and only wearing shoes that will take them.

alanalea

Startrite user here for 2 main reasons-
1) My daughters have very narrow feet (D-E) & they tend to fit better
2) Startrite dye their leather through & Clarks do not. So if you scrape the front of Clarks they will show the white leather. Startrites will show whatever colour the shoe is, so look better for longer.

My daughters feet grow very slowly, so my problem is wear rather than fitting.

angelil

pollypenny wrote: »

There's an interesting discussion in Clarks shoes in today's Guardian money section.

Might help.

Link? The Guardian website is dreadful for trying to find things.

iammumtoone

I found a small independent shop selling startrite about 20 miles away so we took a trip out. They were very helpful and spent alot more time with the fitting than clarks. The downside they were more expensive (I knew that) and they only had two styles in his size!

I will try these but if they don't last any longer will be going back to clarks due to the fact they have more styles and ones my ds actually wants to wear, he didn't like the startrite ones and I don't blame him they were a bit boring compared to the clarks styles (just plain black where as clarks have dinosaurs etc on)

If they do last longer I might see where our nearest large startrite store is and go there so we have more choice.

Regarding 'how he walks' I don't think it is a problem he is only just seven and heavy on his shoes (like alot of his freinds - they are boys), will keep an eye on him and if he is still the same in a few years will get it checked out.

I take the point that it is the fitting rather than make but he has very narrow feet so most of the high street ones will be unsuitable due to this. If anyone knows a high street shop who tend to have a narrow fitting range I would be interested as I still need to buy him some more trainers. I will also look on ebay for clarks/startrite.

sassyblue

Try Tesco's or Next. I always got DS Clarks shoes but tbh Next's are just as good, this last year he fell in love with a pair of trainer type shoes from Tescos and they've been fine too.

I agree with the other advice too, get Clarks to measure him and try ebay. Brantano's have a lot of Clarks shoes in too cheaper.

pollypenny

angelil wrote: »

Link? The Guardian website is dreadful for trying to find things.

Just tried, but it came up 'cannot get a link to server'.

Might be ok on a desktop. I did say it was in the Money section.

susancs

pollypenny wrote: »

Just tried, but it came up 'cannot get a link to server'.

Might be ok on a desktop. I did say it was in the Money section.

Is it this question in the moneysection?
http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2014/aug/16/children-shoes-price-clarks-primark-cost-compare