Summer sandals for children

I always wore Clarkes shoes as a child. My dad used to have to cut a bit off the top of the heel as it came up too high and hurt my foot. I also remember the Xray machine. Janet Street Porter mentioned this on Loose Women recently and the younger women thought she was joking!

Loved these sandals! Most of my clothes we're home made/hand-me-downs from my sister, but I always had my own new shoes. Wish it was as simple as that now, for children.....

So here we go on a semantics tangent :D

Why are the items of footwear in flippy's photograph "sandals" and not "shoes"?

I would have called them shoes (and yes, I do remember them - I don't think I had a pair though).

So when are they shoes, and when are they sandals?

I remember having Clarks "Golden Dollies" shoes and getting a poster of Led Zeppelin in the box. I hadn't a clue who or what Led Zeppelin was - that's now rectified :D

I stopped shopping for children's shoes in Clarks after they sent my son out of the shop wearing a pair of shoes that were two and a half sizes too small for him. I never trusted them after that, and always went to independent shoe shops afterwards

I really don't remember an x-ray machine in Clarks! Maybe a wee bit before my time (sorry ?)
I had to wear clarks, and generally they were the only new things I got each year as I had an older sister.
I occasionally buy from clarks for dgd as she has very wide plates of meat but now alot of supermarkets and m&s do wide fit at cheaper prices!

Have hilarious snap of DH wearing them. He was about 11 and in a class in Texas with some very well-developed American girls!

Do you remember how white the soles were when they were new? First task was always to mucky them up a bit!

I loved my sandals! Used to get them at Easter to go with my new 'costume'! I have a vague recollection of a pair of red sandals but perhaps they were Startrite or Norvic. Hated getting the crepe soles dirty as they changed from off white to murky grey by the end of the summer

I had these and sensible lace up shoes for winter. They had to be bought in shops that took Provident cheques.

I remember the conversation about having your feet measured in the shop.... but having to buy a pair of shoes of the same size.......why couldn't we have odd sizes to fit properly? I think it made us feel better that we mostly had market shoes, cheap and cheerful.

I had these, as did my DD years later, although there was a lot more colour choice in the 80's. I recall she had a red pair and a powder blue pair too.

My DGD's would not be seen dead wearing them today though. They almost live in trainers or converse.

I have never lived it down that I bought what I now know were nicknamed Jesus boots for my two boys then aged 5 and 6. They were the same as many men wear today. I thought their feet would be cooler and more comfortable and they looked very comfortable for hot weather with just a couple of straps, (sure everyone knows the ones) I'm surprised when they mention it now that I wasn't had up for child cruelty, lol

My DS wants me done for child cruelty because I bought him a pair of blue kickers with my 21st birthday money when he was 3 nannypiano ! He says he can remember the humiliation of wearing them but I don't believe him. He is "remembering" the photographs.

HurdyGurdy they were sandals a opposed to winter shoes which were sturdy lace-ups. We didn't have the choice of shoes & mostly hated them but daren't argue with Parents so had to wear them. Only time I wore any different types of sandals was on holiday, remember the plastic ones you could paddle in? They stuck to your feet when you took them off

My DD worked for Clarkes when she was at College, she always ensured shoes were fitting perfectly before the Customer left the shop. Like many parents she rarely buys Clarkes now.

I remember those, but I'm with HurdyGurdy - to me they are shoes, not sandals. I wouldn't call footwear 'sandals' unless they had open toes.

Yes I remember these and I wore them up to around the age of twelve/thirteen. Then one morning in Home Economics the teacher said that we would be discussing feet/footwear for that particular lesson. I think we had some warning as we all made sure that we had on clean socks that day.
What we didn't know was that as we all sat in a circle the teacher would get us all to stick our feet out and compare our shoe styles. The more sophisticated/trendy girls were wearing more fancy shoes and I felt rather embarrassed and ashamed of wearing such a 'babyish' style.
The next time we were treated to new shoes I made sure that I picked something more grown-up. Hence the bunions.

OMG, I remember these. I used to be at Boarding School so I used to smuggle my platforms back and hide these in my drawer. I remember my panic when my mother was supposed to visit unexpectedly so I had to find the sandals and
make them look "worn" by the time she got there. I hated the blessed things which made my flat feet look like plates of meat and the short white socks bought to accompany them when I had tarantula legs which I wasn't allowed to shave. Being short, fat with greasy hair and acne I painted a pretty picture...not!

We went on holiday to Kerry when my DD was about 8, She had Startrite sandals & was very envious of the little Irish girls strappy "Jesus" sandals but was pleased when Maeve said how much she wanted Startrite sandals like my DDs !

Those were my sandals. I don't recall there being much choice. I cannot believe the amount of different footwear my GC have!

Apparently the "in" sandals at the moment are Salt Water ones. They're quite similar to the Clarks styles. My daughters pulled faces at me when I said they looked a bit old fashioned

Startrite was what I bought for my two.
It appears from some of the photographs of our new royal babes this is what they are wearing?

In the '50s at secondary school we wore black lace ups but had to change into sandals indoors, most of us had Clarks. In the summer term we could wear sandals outdoors to come to school. Changing shoes must have kept a lot of winter mud and dirt out of the building.
We also wore grey knee socks with white ankle socks in summer. Some wore ankle socks all year round. When we got to what would now be Y10 we could wear stockings and skirts instead of gym slips. Still checked dresses and white socks in summer term! Lisle stockings had just given way to nylons but tights didn't come in until the early '60s. Suspender belts were essential of course and black school knickers right to 6th form!
I'm wondering at what point we were allowed slip on flat shoes with uniform, surely we didn't wear black lace ups and sandals to the age of 18!

Oh yes! It was all the rage to wear them one notch too big when I was at school as this made the buckles tinkle as you walked!

Oh yes. I had them as well.

My mother used to take me to PeterJones department store in Sloane Square, Chelsea, and I got measured up using one of those X-ray machines.

Does anyone remember them?.

Knew which ones u meant before I saw the pic! White crepe soles which soon got blackened.

Yes. They had crepe soles, and I was always tripping up in them. I hated the stitching around the outside too!!?