About Shoes

There are so many children’s winter boots and shoes in the shops for the season, they are spoiled for choice!  Children, these days, tend to go for sophisticated, elegant styles, often against the wishes of their parents.  Influenced by their favourite celebrities, they demand expensive designer ranges which can be totally impractical, rather than practical, well-fitting shoes from children’s shoe specialist shops, such as Clarks or Start-rite.

Children’s foot size can increase considerably throughout the season, and it’s important for both feet to be measured by a foot specialist.  When children find a shoe style they like, after being measured, the child should be asked to walk round the shoe shop to check whether they hurt anywhere.  With the child standing, press at the front of the shoe to check how much room there is to allow for growth.  Check that the sides don’t ‘bag’ out and there isn’t too much spare room at the heel.

As the shoes – or boots - are to be worn during the coldest season, it’s important that they will protect against the bitterly cold temperatures typical of the season.  It’s always best to buy leather as this will protect against cold and rain, and allow the skin to breathe.  Leather also stretches slightly resulting in shoes which last longer and fit more comfortably.  Lace up shoes or shoes which have bars across the front are more suitable for children as they won’t come off when the child is running and playing.  Check that the soles of the shoes are strong and made of thick rubber, making them skid proof.

Children, of course, have their own ideas of the fashionable shoe styles they want to wear, and usually they don’t always correspond with their parent’s wishes.  Children often choose something like ‘moonboots’ made from silver lurex, priced at £45.  They are also tempted by Fizz boots, priced at around £50, in light pink or turquoise colours.  Fashionable styles like these are expensive and aren’t designed to last for the coldest 5 or 6 months of the year.

Really fashionable children’s shoes and boots are often not designed for vigorous rough and tumble play, and are often built of materials too thin to protect against severe winter conditions.  If parents and children can compromise, there are some great and practical styles available in the shops.
Start-rite, among other children’s shops, has a large range of winter shoes and boots specially designed for children.  Designs are guaranteed to last against normal children’s wear and tear, and styles appeal to the most fashionable kid.  Boot styles such as Amber-Leigh  and Flowerchild are made from leather and come in appealing trendy colours.  Both parents and children love them.

In my opinion, closed shoes are far more practical to wear than open toe shoes when hiking and climbing, purely from a safety point of view if nothing else.

If you wear open toe shoes and you stub your toe on a rock, or trip up then you could be in all kinds of trouble, causing yourself a cut or an injury of some sort to your toes, or possibly falling over if you get your open toe shoes caught up in anything as you are climbing or hiking. A toe injury alone can cause a great deal of pain, and can make it very uncomfortable to walk with. It is much more sensible to cover your toes and have them protected if possible by Craghoppers UK hiking boots, but if this is not an option, then a sensible pair of flat boots or sturdy shoes.

Closed shoes are more likely to withstand the environment of countryside walking and climbing as they are more robust. Open toe shoes could easily split or get damaged, therefore exposing your feet to the same dangers. On the whole, most open toe shoes do not offer the same standard of grip on the bottom that many closed shoes do either, as they are designed for casual use and are not intended for walking or climbing in. It is common sense to know that you do need some kind of grip on shoes for hiking and climbing in.

Closed shoes are more practical as far as the weather goes too. If it is raining while you are out on your hike or climb, then it would be very uncomfortable to continue with wet toes. Even if it is not raining, there are often places out in the countryside that are wet, such as puddles and dewy grass areas and you may come across small streams that you need to cross. It is not a practical idea to walk through water with open toe shoes on.

Keep your open toe shoes for casual use at home or on holiday and stick to sensible closed shoes for hiking and climbing. It makes good sense.

With the exception of trainers, there is nothing more comfortable than hiking boots. Contemporary hiking boots are built very much along the line of trainers and embody many of the qualities encapsulated in the trainers design. Hikers used to wear traditional boots, but these are starting to be replaced by lightweight, low cut hiking boots. They may not offer the ankle support of the earlier models, but they make walking vastly more comfortable. When you have to cover a lot of ground, comfort is the single most important thing.

Can you imagine walking 20 miles in a pair of work shoes? It is bad enough going out to fetch your lunch, let alone going for a long walk. Shoes simply aren’t designer for comfort; they are designer primarily to look smart. Some are beautiful examples, but the fact remains that they tend to cut your heels to shreds and force your feet into a mould. This fact isn’t helped by so many people trying to squeeze into smaller sizes as small is more in vogue. You also don’t get the kind of cushioning that you do with a hiking boot. This means that your feet are vastly more likely to blister on the soles.

Some hiking boots aren’t as comfortable as the lighter weighted versions. Full-length hiking boots are built with stability and ankle support in mind. The last thing you want is to lose your footing and injure yourself on some rough area of terrain. Consequently, there is a price to pay for this stability in terms of overall comfort. Like shoes, hiking boots are designer for a reason and you can choose which is most important to you. Is that reason support and stability or overall comfort? You could also choose a compromise between these two extremes.

Many hiking boots are unisex. This can make it difficult for women to buy a shoe that is right for their feet. Walking over a distance of ground with your feet slipping about can cause a great deal of damage to your feet. They certainly aren’t comfortable. However, more recently, manufacturers are starting to designer hiking boots that are designer with the female in mind. An example of this Brasher boots. These shoes are comfortable and provide support, but the weight of the boots tends to be heavy, which is an inconvenience for most people to carry around.

There is a definite trend towards the lighter, less supportive boot. This clearly indicates that consumers are favourite comfort over any other factors in the hiking boot market. This is also evidenced in the market for work shoes as Hush Puppies and other similar brands start to claim an increasing share of the market.

No matter if you choose shoes or hiking boots you still have a degree of autonomy in terms of whether you seek comfort or style. A lot of the reason why manufacturers still favour stylish, uncomfortable shoes is because vanity often wins the day at work. The consumer market for hiking boots and shoes are very different animals. Hikers don’t tend to be nearly as obsessed with appearance and do what they do for the love of it. People still care more about what people think than their own level of personal comfort in the market for shoes.

Very few companies will permit their staff to wear hiking boots to work. You will, however, find that some have a more liberal interpretation of what is acceptable, particularly on dress-down days. If the business tends to have customers inspecting it on a regular basis you can expect formal shoes to be a requirement every day.

Gucci? Prada? To be honest, I really couldn’t care less for either one. Burn the lot of ‘um, I say. I’ve come across better designers (student designers, tailors in Africa, for instance) who can design better creations in their sleep.

We’re so obsessed with designer labels and which celebrity (almost always female) is wearing what with what (I say, burn the red carpet too) that I think if a celebrity walked around stark naked with a Gucci label stuck to their creamy white behind, we’d all go out and buy it.

Go figure.

So Gucci?, Prada? No thank you. You can have them both, my friend. On the house. With a box of matches. On a bonfire. On stage. At the Oscars.

Give me clothing that makes my eyes sing, that catches my breath, then we can talk over a latte (full cream, 2 sugars). But I’m afraid Goo-chi and Pra-dumb ain’t doing it for this gal. Sorry.

Actually, I’m not.