Shoes for Toddlers

[saundra]

It is definitely not recommended passing shoes on - aside from things like wellington boots. Certainly no shoe that will be worn regularly. The shoes stretch to fit each child over time so the shape will be altered. You could get away with maybe a party shoe that would only be worn for very short periods of time. Children's shoes are very expensive and if you can, it is worth timing purchases around the sales. When my son was younger I used to buy a size or two up in the sale to have when he grew out of them. This doesn't work now as he will go months without growing a size and then go up two sizes in the space of two weeks. And the shoes get more expensive as their feet get bigger! You also need to be aware that it doesn't really matter what size your child is measured, each brand/style of shoe has a different fitting and they often need a smaller/bigger size than they are measured for. You have to try the shoe on to know if it is right. My daughter has a high instep and it is very difficult to get shoes to fit her here. Ordering shoes in what you think is the right size without fitting them is a big risk. The main thing to watch out for is that their is good support. I always went for shoes and sandals with a boot style back as this gives the ankles more support, especialy in the early years. Good luck! Believe me, you'll need it.

[svasbt]

aohman:

According to the experiences with my niece in the States, Stride Rite is almost exactly the same as Start Rite, just a tad cheaper. They even have very similar designs, I'm not sure who's following who. And their sizing is ALMOST identical. But, yes, I agree that every child's feet are different, and you need to properly try the shoes on before buying them. Good luck.

[armstroe]

I just want to give Footstop another big thumbs up.

I bought a pair of Start-Rites for my 6.5 yr old two months ago and yesterday one of the leather straps broke. I've never had this problem with any of her shoes before (and have always bought Start-Rites from them)

Took them back to Footstop today and they quickly exchanged them while apologising for the problem.

To me, this is why I would rather pay more to begin with and use a good shop, so if there is a problem it can be resolved.

I also bought the 14 month old her first shoes while I was there. They spent an hour fitting her and trying on all sorts of styles.

There is quite a lot of different styles and sizes on sale if any one is interested.

[Slee]

Hi,

By co-incidence I've just got home from Footstop. I managed to get two pairs of Startrite shoes for under HK$500 as one pair are made from canvas and the only leather shoes that fitted my daughter happened to be on sale at 1/2 price!

Their standard prices are expensive but well worth it. Why? Even after measuring the lenght of her foot and her width, she still tried on 15 pairs of sandals and shoes to find the ultimate fit. The fitter explained that even though they were all the same length and width, they still vary in actual size depending on what last (mould) they were made on. I could see what she ment too - some had no room in the toes to grow into, some were too wide and others had too big a gap at the heel - very Cinderella!

Before we found the lucky 14th and 15th pairs that I bought, she found shoes that fitted in width but did not have that much length to grow into. She could have just sold them to us and have had us come back in a few months but instead, based on the last pair they sold us, we won't be back until Christmas.

Happy shoe shopping :-)

[ANYC1]

Just curious, where do the Locals buy their shoes? Surely they dont pay an arm and a leg for kids shoes.

My nephews from India wear inexpensive Bata shoes and believe me their feet are fine. Anybody traveling to India/Thailand etc could get you shoes from there.

My daughter 16 months old, wears shoes from Payless shoes in the US. They are great. US$ 10-12. Better still are the jelly belly plastic sandals hich are very very flexible.

One thing I have learned from buying shoes for myself and for daughter/nephews is to flip the sole and figure out if they are flexible or not.

ANYC

[Slee]

'Locals' don't pay an arm and a leg for their dentist either and it shows!

[shri]

>> 'Locals' don't pay an arm and a leg for their dentist either and it shows!


Whoa .. low blow.

It boils down to economic sensibility. If you feel you have the money and want the best of the best of the best for your kid, go ahead and spend away. If you don't have the money or feel that it could probably be saved for the kids college fund then make your choice.

I will try and dig up an episode of Penn and Teller's program "Bullshit" where they set up this developmental training class for parents and got them to do the most ridiculous things (including dance around in adult diapers) on the simple pretext... "parents will do anything if they're told its good for their baby".

( http://www.tvtome.com/PennandTellerB...ason1.html#ep5 )

That episode is particularly worth watching for parents who get suckered in by the media.

[val]

rani,
you may also consider combi shoes as 1st bb hard shoes. cost only 1xx at bebe dream(times square) or wing on.

it's very difficult to find nice and reasonable priced shoes for toddlers in hk.

have fun shopping