Clark’s would always recommend that you have your child’s shoes fitted by one of their trained fitters. Come down to Lakeside Village and our Clarks experts are on hand to fit your children’s shoes totally free of charge. Plus in store you can pick up a FREE voucher booklet, packed full of special offers for selected stores and local attractions!
Take a look at this quick guide, provided by Clarks on how to fit your child’s shoes correctly.
Step 1 – Length
- Help your child put the shoes on and check they are fastened effectively. Feel for the end of your child’s longest toe – getting them to wriggle their toes may help.
- Check there is sufficient growing room. At Clarks we recommend 14mm growing room for all styles, except for open-toed sandals and Pre-Walking styles from our First Shoes range – for which we recommend 10mm growing room.
Step 2 – Width
- Feel along the inside and outside of the shoe with your hand.
- There should be no pressure or pinching at the sides.
- Your child should be able to wriggle their little toe.
Step 3 – Depth
- Pull your fingers across the front of the shoe.
- There should be sufficient depth for comfort.
- The leather should ripple, not pleat or crease.
Step 4 – Top of the shoe
- Feel around the top edge of the shoe.
- There should be no gaps and the leather shouldn’t rest against the ankle bone unless it is soft and padded.
Step 5 – Heel Grip
- Sit your child down and lift one foot.
- Pull down gently on the back of shoe.
- Make sure that it grips the heel well.
- Repeat with the other foot.
- Now ask your child to walk in their shoes.
- Make sure that they are able to walk easily and naturally.
- Check that the shoes grip when walking.
- The shoes should not gape excessively at the sides.