Ad – Gifted¦ With the end of the school year on the horizon, I’m sure most of us are budgeting and thinking ahead to buying uniform and new school shoes ready for September. While Autumn will be going into Year 4 (Already?!), Reuben will be starting school! When I’m buying school shoes, I always look for good quality and preferably brands that do widths. It is so important that children wear shoes that allow their feet to develop properly. Their bones, ligaments and muscles are all developing right through to their mid to late teens. So if they’re wearing badly fitted shoes, it could interfere with their natural movement and development. This can potentially cause lasting damage. Start-Rite shoes are designed for the shape of children’s feet with room to grow, move and develop naturally.
With children wearing their school shoes for at least 1,200 hours each year, they also need to be very comfortable. That’s a lot of hours that they’ll be wearing them to learn and play! I’ve long known Start-Rite to be a quality brand, so I was delighted when they got in touch asking me if I would like my children to put their school shoes to the test. Let’s take a look at what my kids chose…
Star Jump
For her new school shoes, Autumn chose Star Jump. She loves the star design on the front and the glittery insoles that sparkle as she puts them on. If a fairy had school shoes, it would be these! I very much approved of her choice as they’re very smart, black leather and I love the traditional shape and T-bar design of them. With their padded ankle, they look very comfortable.
The design on the soles is also very pretty and girly, with lots of hearts and stars. They have biomechanically engineered flex grooves for easy, natural movement. They feel as though they also have a very good grip. Practicalities aside, Autumn was so excited to spot the soles. She was delighted that these aren’t ‘boring’ like her current, very plain, school shoes.
Another feature I was impressed by is the Air-Rite technology built into Star Jump. Very much needed in the current heatwave, this innovative design encourages airflow to exactly where it needs to go. This allows air to flow around feet, helping to keep them comfortable and less sweaty! Of course, this is Britain, so we do need to think about rain. However, this technology has been designed to not affect the shoe in rainy conditions.
Star Jump are available in sizes small 9 to a large 2, with four widths available.
Explore
Reuben is very particular about many things, including shoes. When he was choosing his, he insisted they had to be similar to his best friend’s! Therefore, his choice was Explore. While they’re smart black leather school shoes, they’re inspired by trainers and look incredibly comfortable!
Reuben loves to be independent, so it’s fantastic that they have two rip-tape straps as this means he’ll be able to take them on and off by himself. They have cushioned ankles and breathable linings to keep his feet comfy. The leather feels lovely and soft, allowing it to mould to his feet and flex with them. This pair also has those fantastic flex grooved soles to allow natural foot movement and development. They’re very lightweight too.
Explore are available in sizes small 6 to large 4, with two widths available.
Putting Them to the Test
The last month of school is going to be a busy one, so the children’s school shoes will certainly be put through their paces! Autumn has been obsessed with trying to do cartwheels and handstands since Easter, so she’ll be doing lots of those in her shoes. Reuben’s shoes will be scooting in the nursery playground every day. Of course, there will be lots of visits to the park after school too!
With Start-Rite’s vigorous testing and dyed-through leather to help keep their shoes looking good when scuffs happen, I don’t doubt they’ll still look great when the summer holidays arrive. I’ll be reporting back though, so watch this space!
Disclosure: We received the aforementioned shoes from Start-Rite in return for an unboxing and review post. As always, all views and opinions are honest and my own.