How much do you pay for DC's shoes?

[jenny]

So now that DD is a pretty good walker, I need to buy her shoes to wear when we're out.

Is it me, or are kid's shoes really expensive?

So I wondered what you guys pay for a pair of shoes and where you buy them.

Do you buy it at a clothing store like old navy, kmart, walmart, gymboree, children's place or do you buy it at a shoe store like payless or shoes.com or zappos.com or pedipeds.com?

And how much do you pay?

Although I want to get DD a nice pair of shoes, I just can't stomach paying $30-$40 on stride rite/pediped shoes.

What do you do?

[brittone2]

It varies. I can sometimes find inexpensive pairs that have great flexibility, etc. We bought Robeez knockoffs on ebay (shoeszoo?) when DS was young that worked and held up fine.

We've bought expensive shoes (we love soft star shoes) in the past and had them hold up amazingly well. If we buy spendy shoes for a certain season, I try to pick something versatile so we can get by with fewer pairs. I like softstar's business model (family friendly, made in the USA, they will custom make pairs for kids with special needs who may have physical changes making it hard to fit in traditional shoes, etc).

eta: for an early walker, I'd go with Robeez or similar. As a PT, I was never a fan of stride rite, as I always found when I went into stores with my kids they pushed more sole on them than needed, earlier than needed....and I found some of their shoes to actually be quite stiff. Perhaps that has changed now that they bought Robeez (I think?). (eta: just back to say obviously sales people can vary tremendously in knowledge, expertise, etc. and maybe I've just had not so great ones. On a bright note I think they offer different widths, which is nice)

One other weird thing to consider is some of the toy testing results from a year or two ago showed Target shoes, etc. to contain lead in the pigments. With a younger child, that is one thing I'd take into consideration. Less of a concern for an older child, IMO.

[MommyofAmaya]

So far, my kids have worn Robeez as infants and moved into Stride Rite until age 2+. I always decide on a shoe (usually after perusing Zappos) and then scour the internet to find the best deal. I usually try to stick to a budget of $20 for Stride Rites, Tredz, and the one pair of SKRs we have. Now that I've discovered our local Stride Rite outlet, I probably won't do as much bargain shopping for the baby, b/c he has a wide foot and it is easier to go there and get a reasonably priced pair that fits correctly.

I still prowl the internet to get the best price on shoes for Amaya b/c they seem to be getting more $$ as she gets older. We got her latest Keens at tinysoles.com for @$30 and I will definitely be buying more from them b/c they have free shipping on $20+ and frequent coupon codes. I make sure to buy the Keens in a gender neutral color so I can pass them onto Sebastian next year. They hold up amazingly well.

Our Ross and Marshall's have had a decent selection of nice kids shoes lately (Stride Rite, Teva, Robeez). They are usually @ $15.

[Piglet]

For me, I find that the more expensive shoes somehow last longer. Maybe it is because they tend to be shoes that I buy at shoe stores that do fittings or makbe they are better made so they don't fall apart, but DS2 has been in a very expensive pair of shoes all year. He has hard to fit feet and we got him fitted for shoes in September (what are the odds that eh shoe that fit best was the most expensive??). They look worn but are still in good shape and still fit him. With DD, it is more about fashion sometimes so I am guilty of buying her pretty shoes that she doesn't need. I buy those on sale quite often and don't find they last very long. The shoes she wears daily are the ones I spend money on. My logic is that my kids wear the same pair of shoes EVERY SINGLE DAY so on a per-wear basis, the shoes are really reasonable. I have tons of shoes that get worn once in a while so even though I can keep the same size for years, the cost is the same per wear as my kids. If you had only one pair of shoes, you wouldn't want them to be $20 shoes from Payless or Walmart, ykwim?

[brittone2]

Back to add that at one point DS had a pair of sneakers from Payless that were super, super flexible and held up just fine And I'm picky about shoe flexibility and fit.

[ellies mom]

I usually spend $20-50 on shoes for my girls. Thank goodness, their feet grow slowly. I buy them at Nordtroms because they typically have a good selection of good shoes and their salespeople tend to be really good. I even buy Stride Rites there because I hate going to their stores and dealing with all their bad information. I will occasionally buy from Zappos. If I find the brands I like at other places I will buy them but Nordstroms is usually my first stop.

[o_mom]

We did Robeez or knockoffs until about age 2 as their primary shoe. I had one pair with a slightly tougher sole, such as Tredz or a very flexible StrideRite. Most of them were $20 or less for brand-name stuff and under $15 for the knockoffs. From age 2+ we mainly get StrideRite outlet shoes and knock off crocs.

The latest pair of tennis shoes for DS1 were a killer, though. I paid $30 at RackRoom for Nikes. He has moved up to 'kid' sizes (11+) so the prices are higher and the selection of non-tying shoes is even smaller. Our SR outlet isn't super close, so it is usually a couple times a year thing, but his shoes were way too small and hurting his feet so we had to find something local. In the smaller sizes, I would usually find something at Payless or Target, but couldn't do it this time. Even the Walmart ones were $20 and only came in whole sizes which were too big/small so I figured it was worth $10 to get a decent pair.

[wellyes]

Pedipeds or See Kai Run have been the best for DD. On clearance at amazon sometimes. I've never spent more than $25 for a pair of baby shoes just because they do size up pretty fast.

I also purchased Pediped knock-off from the "Rising Star" brand at TJ Maxx which, frankly, was just as good as the real thing and cost less than $10.

[SnuggleBuggles]

The $32 for ds2's Pedipeds are at the top of my proce range for shoes at this age. My budget has grown as ds1 has grown. But, for toddlers I like to keep it around $30. Because of the size range offered by Pedipeds (they are sized like 12-18m) I have been able to use them longer, I think. His first pair got us from September-May!

Beth

[jenny]

So I hear flexibility being mentioned a lot in previous posts.

But I thought Robeez-type of shoes (made from leather) would be too slippery to wear outside. Aren't you concerned of DC slipping? And there's really no sole in shoes like Robeez, so won't it hurt their feet when they step outside on the hard concrete/asphalt ground or mall stores??

DD will be 1 on Thursday and she really loves to walk. She'll walk all around the house by herself without shoes on, which is OK b/c we have carpeted floors. But she also loves to walk around when we're out, so I want something to put on her feet. Most of the time we'll carry or or have her in the stroller, but she does do a wee bit of walking outside when she gets sick of being in the stroller.

So what do you suggest? She wears a size 4 in infant shoes.