Kids shoes...why so expensive?

bylromarha

lapat wrote:

clarks run a baby/toddler club ask at your local store
you join you get 5% off your first pair and then 5%off the following three pairs then 10% off the fourth pair then 50% of the fith pair
not sure if it works at the outlet malls though
and im curious why your clarks are £31 my lads average around the £23 every three to four months and hes just 2yr old

Thanks for the info about the club.

I ended up getting startrite for £31 in the end as Clarks didn't have a pair in his size.

However, I would still be grumpy if I was buying a £23 pair of shoes every 3 months. £92 per year on shoes which don't get much wear is still not offering the consumer a choice between expensive or very expensive.

pdoff

black-saturn wrote:

I think that you will find that most people in those days wore hand me down shoes because people just couldnt afford them. Your mum probably would have got bad feet whether she wore them or not. Not everyone who wears hand me down shoes has bad feet. So you cant blame it on that.

was just quoting the chiropodist who i presumed knew what he was talking about as it is his job. is it worth the risk?

Shelanne

Very interesting thread! This has been my rant for a while now, having had several bad experiences with fitters, one time my daughter had a pair of shoes for about 6 months (which I thought was odd!) then when I took her back to the shop the same fitter measured her feet a half size and width less!! Then I took older daughter and had her feet measured. Found 3 pairs in different styles in that size and none if them fitted, not even close!
I read in some newspaper a while ago that a survey had been conducted where untrained parents versus fitters type of thing. Anyway parents with vested interest in child's foot development made as good fitters as trained people. Really when you think about it, that's not at all surprising, all day every day we make decisions to the best of our ability for the best for our children and yet behave like we can't tell if shoes are right!! Anyway due to Clarks not fitting, I bought school shoes in Marks & Spencer this year and I am very very pleased. They do half sizes and wider fit and very cute styles, you can bring them home and watch child walk around on carpet until you make your decision, they can always go back. Whilst Marks shoes weren't silly cheap, they were a bit more reasonable than Clarks (also sale on now!). I think us parents need to take back our control and give Clarks a wake up call!! They must be able to make quality shoes a bit cheaper.

Quackers

lapat wrote:

clarks run a baby/toddler club ask at your local store
you join you get 5% off your first pair and then 5%off the following three pairs then 10% off the fourth pair then 50% of the fith pair
not sure if it works at the outlet malls though
and im curious why your clarks are £31 my lads average around the £23 every three to four months and hes just 2yr old

You must be shopping at an Independantly owned store that stocks Clarks shoes or a Clarks Franchise. This is not a Clarks shoe shop offer and is not available nationwide.

Gingham_Ribbon

I went to Clarks yesterday to have my son's feet measured. Instead of the rude, surly woman or the dozy, clueless girl, they had a new member of staff. She was friendly, efficient and kind to my son. She asked him to stand up while she felt is feet inside the shoes he had on. (None of the others had done that before.) She said he had about 3 more weeks of growing room in his shoes and she'd be happy to measure him then.

Lovely! And she said to my son, 'Isn't it nice that you've saved mummy some money this time!'

I'll be asking for her next time!

Spendless

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

She asked him to stand up while she felt is feet inside the shoes he had on. (None of the others had done that before.)

I'm shocked no-one had done that before. Every single time my 2 had had shoes that is always what they have done.

jenpoptab

That sound's like a welcome that we all want. I hate going to my local shoe shop as they are all so rubbish and rude!

jellyhead

we're lucky with our clarkes, there's also a shoe shop selling startrite, elefanten etc. that is excellent (but very expensive!). spud has been a G fitting since babyhood and he needed shoes for walking outdoors at ten months, he only wore them outdoors though. we got elefanten shoes for him and i was gobsmacked by the price (£42!!) because i wear docs, similarly priced and they last for years. the elefanten shoes lasted for ten months though.

i usually go to clarkes because he's still a G and he can't do laces, they sell velcro shoes in his size. the staff are excellent and they have a measuring machine so as long as the child stands still for a second you know their feet have been correctly measured (and both feet are measured, some staff in other shops just measure one foot but that's no good when they're not the same size). spud wears second hand clothes but the shoes have to come from clarkes, they never have G fittings in the sale either, grrr!

bylromarha

Just found a fully comprehensive guide to fitting shoes in "What to expect- the Toddler Years". Got it from the library too, so it was free!

Spud's £31 shoes are getting tight...to be expected after 2 months I guess. I'm going to see if I can fit the next ones myself without paying the clarks/startrite premium. And then go into Clarks a week later and ask if he needs a new pair yet...they'll hopefully tell me if they're a good fit or not!

It's stupid as there is loads of wear left in his old shoes, but I refuse to sell them on ebay as this book also says 2nd hand shoes are just as bad for little feet as ill fitted ones.

CODEBREAKER

clarks will be having a 1/2 price sale in december,

remember clarks have an extra 1/2 size in there shoes,

my son has sized 7 shoes and he's coming up to a 7 1/2, the sales assistant said he will be ok for a few weeks due to the extra 1/2 size in there shoes.

i would have got him a cheap pair of trainers from woolies for 3.99 until the sale