Kids shoes...why so expensive?

bylromarha

My 13 month old boy has just had his first pair of shoes at a grand cost of £31.

Mine are never that much!

I want to get the cost down as much as possible, without compromising on the fit of the shoe.

I tried my local Clarks outlet shop, but as he has a narrow foot, they didn't have shoes to sell me. She recommended he had a startrite shoe as they are for a narrow fit. We got startrite, but at a high price!

Any ideas how to get the next pair with the correct fit but a lower price?

If not, why have we been letting shoe manufacturers get away with these ridiculous prices for kids shoes for so long?!

tiff

For me it has to be said that Clarks shoes are superior in quality than any other shoes, I like Startrite as well. I actually dont mind paying for quality and its the one thing I wont compromise on. My Mum always bought us Clarks when we were growing up and she said they were expensive then, but she said she made do with cheaper clothes but not with shoes. Apart from Clarks and Startrite no-one else that I know of on the high street measures kids feet, and I feel confident with the fitters and that they will even exchange the shoes within a certain period of time if they got the fit wrong.

Its great if you can get to one of their outlet stores though, Clarks village have some real bargains but its a bit of a trek from Bristol.

gravitytolls

Our local towns have few outlets for shoes, as they are so small. But Stead and Simpsons now sell Clarks, but they only use their own measuring equipment, they don't measure width. They tell me they only use the sizer as a guide, and rely on visual checks for good width and length fitting. The point is, I thought Clarks fitters were trained to fit childrens shoes, so am I now paying through the nose for good quality shoes which may be poorly fitted?

skylight

Sorry to say, but proper fitted shoes like Clarks and Startrite is one of the few areas that you cannot save money on. (As I discovered)

There are many reports out now about how childrens feet are being disformed over ill-fitting shoes.

My kids get 2nd hand clothes from ebay, but always proper shoes from Clarks!

But, back to your original point - yes I do feel that the shoes are way over priced, but as there is no real alternative in my area I am stuck with paying through the nose (or toes!!)

Spendless

bylromarha wrote:

My 13 month old boy has just had his first pair of shoes at a grand cost of £31.

Mine are never that much!

I want to get the cost down as much as possible, without compromising on the fit of the shoe.

I tried my local Clarks outlet shop, but as he has a narrow foot, they didn't have shoes to sell me. She recommended he had a startrite shoe as they are for a narrow fit. We got startrite, but at a high price!

Any ideas how to get the next pair with the correct fit but a lower price?

If not, why have we been letting shoe manufacturers get away with these ridiculous prices for kids shoes for so long?!

LOL- my daughter wasn't quite a size 2 for her 1st shoes. The only pair to be had was some French designer ones that cost £44!!! The next pair we bought in France, and hoped they'd be cheaper 60 euros (roughly £40 again!).

By the time she needed another pair her feet had grown and we were able to buy at Clarkes outlet- £9- about time-lol

Becles

They may be overpriced initially, but they do pay for themselves!

When he's a bit bigger and kicking a football about in them, they'll last much longer than cheap shoes. My two son's feet didn't grow much last year and their Clarks shoes lasted the full school year.

bylromarha

But my point is that he's 13 months old, he'll have grown out of them in a few months and they'll need replacing, at another £31 probably.

I have to say I'm less concerned with quality than I am with the fit. I don't care if the shoe is built to last for 5 years...my boy will only be able to wear it for 3 months max. £120 for a years shoe wear is unacceptable.

So why do we all, as moneysavers, just roll over and say it's fine and you get what you pay for?! As a consumer, surely I should have a choice. There must be a company somewhere that fits shoes properly, but has a cheaper range than clarks and startrite to choose from.

The choice at the moment seems to be pay a fortune or get badly fitted shoes. One should not imply the other IMO.

Maybe I should set up my own company....now there's a thought....

Savvy_Sue

bylromarha wrote:

The choice at the moment seems to be pay a fortune or get badly fitted shoes. One should not imply the other IMO.

Maybe I should set up my own company....now there's a thought....

Or get a job in Clarks and learn to fit shoes yourself! Friend of mine had worked in Clarks and said it wasn't rocket science. Although you don't always get the width fittings in cheap shoes so it's even more trial and error.

Anyway, wait until they are older and need trainers for school AND proper school schoes AND their feet are so big that each pair costs nearer £50 AND you have 3 of them!

jos_4

Stopped buying clarks for my sons last year when the sales assistant was quite happy to sell me a pair that didn't fit my son properly because he liked the style and they didn't his size in that style.

Gingham_Ribbon

Thanks for this thread, Bylromarha! I am really annoyed at the lack of choice and the extortionate prices.

I have had the same trouble. My son is a big lad and was cruising at 5 months and walking at 10 months. We were forced because of his size to buy slippers instead of shoes as they did not provide cruiser/crawler shoes so large. He was still crawling a fair bit when the weather turned bad and I didn't want to force him into 'proper' shoes but I was not prepared to take him out in the freezing cold in slippers. He ended up with the shoes but fortunately dropped the crawling pretty quickly.

Not only did they not provide the correct size shoes then, but now when I try to get him shoes, they're all velcro fastening in his size. Fine, lots of toddlers like to sort out their clothes by themselves and my son is no exception, but I don't want him being able to take them off and throw them out of the pram at that price.

I found some startrite buckle ups but they were very expensive and have much thicker soles than I'd prefer for his age. (Now 21 months.)

My point is, he has grown out of shoes within 6 to 8 weeks and at that price it really is too much. Particularly when we are not adequately catered for.

We have been told in one Clarkes that a pair fit and in another that they don't in the same afternoon. We have been told one size then another by different assistants. One had no idea how to do it and only measured one foot until I complained and didn't check his width. They had a sign up saying they would take a picture of baby in their first shoes but when I said I didn't want our details used for marketing purposes they refused to take the picture. (Of him in his slippers!)

I tried to get him measured in Clarkes then order that size Clarkes shoes on ebay but the depth is important too and I knew instantly that they didn't fit him.

RUBBISH service RUBBISH prices but fantastic shoes (I'm including Startrite here. Lovely shoes.) But there is nowhere else unless you live in a big city. There's a 'Clinks' I think it's called in Leeds, but they didn't have any to fit my son either and the prices were just as bad.

I'm at a loss. I agree with Bylromarha. Why has this been allowed to continue? We're talking about CHILDREN's SHOES. What possible justification is there for those prices?

One consolation I heard recently on another thread is that there is some kind of little known guarentee from Clarks that if they grow out of them within a certain time they get the next size free? Can anyone help out?

Quackers

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

One consolation I heard recently on another thread is that there is some kind of little known guarentee from Clarks that if they grow out of them within a certain time they get the next size free? Can anyone help out?

Nope, not true. For toddlers shoes last on average 6-8weeks. For older children it is 3 months. This is what I posted on the other thread:

Quackers wrote:

No this is not the case for babies feet. Clarks recommend that babies/toddlers have their feet checked every 6-8 weeks as it is very likely that their feet have grown. They will not replace them free of charge. They'd be giving shoes away on a daily basis as little ones feet grow very quickly

If they grow in 3 - 4 weeks they would probably replace them.

For older children its about 3 months.

This doesn't mean if their feet grow they will be given new shoes automatically. It would only be if the shoes they were originally fitted in no longer fit. Remember, the measure is only a guide so it only goes on the fit of the shoes they are wearing. As Jay Jay says there is plenty of growing room in each pair of shoes so it is very rare we change shoes because they have been outgrown in such a short space of time.

And you MUST have the receipt otherwise you have no proof of when you purchased them.

Please dont all go rushing to clarks on the day before the 6 week or 3 month deadline - it is very unlikely that they will be changed if your childs feet have grown slightly - the feet would have to have grown considerably & that is unlikely. This is a guidleline for staff and the wear and tear that the shoes have had can also be taken into consideration.

I hope all this makes sense - I've got a hangover today :rotfl: