For best value for money, the ultimate time to purchase kids summer footwear is around the 3rd Term school holidays, so by purchasing around October you’ll get longevity and value for money. If you wait until the weather starts to get warm, you often don’t get time…sports season gets underway, birthday parties start happening, end of school functions happen and Christmas suddenly turns up and you don’t have time to go looking for shoes. By this stage, we’ve sold the pick of the styles and you might miss out.
HOW LONG SHOULD KIDS SUMMER FOOTWEAR LAST FOR?
With school aged kids, we fit summer footwear for 1 season. If they’re fitted bigger than that, it will last the winter too, and unless you are going to a hot climate in the off season, there is no use giving your child enough room for them to trip over. Shoes that are fitted too big, will stretch out of shape and not offer enough support for your child’s growing feet. You also run the risk of blisters, callouses, and rubbing as the shoe bends in all the wrong places. Fashion footwear is designed by manufactures to only last one season, as opposed to school shoes, which are designed to last 9-12 months. The materials used in fashion footwear can vary from shoe to shoe, but as a general guide are leather, non-leather or a mix of both. Leather is obviously going to be the most durable and this is something we always recommend for a “rough” child or one that wears their fashion shoes more often than weekends only. Typically, a non-leather shoe will manage for the whole season, but we can’t promise anything!
WHAT DO WE RECOMMEND?
As a guide for a school aged child, 1 pair of good quality summer shoes preferably leather so they last the distance. Get the shoes around the October long weekend and you’ll wear them for just shy of 6 months. My preschooler has often ended up with 2 pairs of sandals, one pair for daycare and playing in the backyard/park and another pair for neat and tidy wear. I’m not suggesting that your preschooler have 2 pairs (I own Sparks Shoes not you) but I AM going to tell you that the pair of shoes they are in MOST of the time should be a really good quality, fitted pair so that they will offer the best support and be the most durable. The pair of sandals they wear for fashion or “Sunday best” don’t have to be as high quality, but they should still be fitted for optimum foot growth, health and development.
SO WHAT’S IN MY KIDS SHOE CUPBOARD?
The big (school age) kids each have a pair of school shoes, sports shoes, slippers/Ugg boots, rainboots and another pair of shoes. This final pair will be weather dependent, so sandals for summer and boots or similar for winter.
My preschooler has slippers/Ugg boots, rainboots and maximum of 2 pairs of seasonal shoes. Up until we began toilet training, we only had 1 pair of seasonal shoes, and sometimes I find 2 pairs a bit excessive!
Honestly, I’ve learnt the hard way! There was a time when my girls had too many pairs of shoes and I quickly realized that at the end of the season, the favorite seasonal pair had been the only pair worn, so where was the point in spending money on more than 1 seasonal pair?!
And let’s face it, I own Sparks Shoes, and my girls could have all the pairs of shoes in the world, but I practice what I talk about in store. If I find it a waste of money, then chances are you will too.
I hope that by looking into my kids shoe cupboard, this information has helped you!