Shoe shopping for children

Sympathy to you, I've had a similar problem with the same place, but my daughters feet are wide. On Sunday I was told, we only cater for young children's shoes... which is odd, as I believe she had an H width fitting when she was 2 as well as now, at the old age of 4! Doesn't exactly instil confidence they know what they're talking about! Gripe over, think I have to go start rite to get the extra width (and extra pennies!!)

Oh and sketchers are huge! They don't do width fittings but they're very roomy anyways, and arent that expensive either.

Hush puppies are almost always available in a H fitting and nike are a decent sized trainer width ways. Ive discoverd them for my 6yr old son. He's a size 2h already!

I couln't agree with you more . My problem has been on the other end of the spectrum with my daughter needing a h fitting. I have been in so many shoe shops with "trained and experienced fitters" that have insited on trying to " squeeze" her feet into a G fitting in a bigger size.
I really am tempted to go into a cheap shoe shop and fit them myself.
Has anyone got any tips
Cheers
Frustrasted mum

I also have a problem with the availability of sizes at Clarks. Both of my children take a H fitting at Clarks, but there is always a very limited choice of styles. Even when we find H fitting shoes, we still often need to increase up to one and a half sizes to get a comfortable width. I bought school shoes today which are slightly tight but had no other option. We also needed trainers but were told that the only style available in a H fitting was a zip front style which my son could not close. Surely wide feet need the flexibility of laces so that they can be made looser.

People who are complaining about staff going from one size to another - infact shuldnt be moaning! This is the correct method, if a shoe is not in stock, then rather than say sorry we havent got that shoe, its better they try all different alternatives. For example if a little girl is a 6 1/2 F, and this isnt available, then the staff should try at 6 1/2E or G, and if that fails then a 6G for example. Also the fact that clarks actually do width fittings is good, and yet people do appreciate this! Next time you go into a clarks, listen to the staff - and they will know what they are doing!

I have just done a search for Clarks shoes because I too am unhappy with the current service. This started about 2 years ago.My 4 year old daughter has very narrow feet and must have an E fitting. I also had difficulty finding them and was told they could not order. After a year of being unable to order I complained and got a customer care number. I phoned and got someone who kindly had a pair transferred from one store to my local store but this put me off using clarks so I stopped a year ago. I now have a 9 month old boy who needs crawling shoes but needs an H fitting and again I have the same problem but this time instead of phoning customer care I was given an order line number to phone but you need to pay £3 for the service of ordering these over the phone and having them sent to your home to then take them to a store to have them correctly fitted. Being very unhappy at this I have just phoned and complained but was just told that was the service. I finally got to speak to a helpful supervisor who advised that in October their new system will let you order the shoes on line and they will be sent to your local store for fitting and collecting. This will not have any extra charge for this. Unfortunately till then we are stuck with the current service.

As an American I am amazed that you are even offered a selection of widths. We simply do not have this in the states. You will occasionally find a shoe marked wide or narrow, but they are not easy to find. If you want anything other than an average width you have to go to a specialty shoe store and your selection will be limited.

I had exactly the same experience myself, my daughter needed a size 7.5 E. I went to 3 different shops to be told they didnt have anything to fit. This is the first time I have experienced this as until recently my daughter was an F fitting. One shop assistant even tried insisting my daughters feet were infact a size 6, to which I picked my daughter up and walked out of the shop. What has happened to Clarks???

We had problems finding Clarks shoes too, we tried 2 shops, both said my daughter was a 3 1/2 g but one tried to sell us 3g and the other 4f

Little girls have their feet bound as babies in china atch, not as 12yr olds.

OMG Are you on another planet or something? This gripe is about shoe shopping for children and finding wide shoes, not your stupid ideas!