In Scandinavia all towns and villages will have a children’s shoe and footwear shop with a descent selection. In the UK I’ve found that buying shoes for your child a lot more challenging. There are only a handful of children’s shoe shops with a limited selection of brands in store, mostly only school shoes, wellies and glittery ballerinas.
But children’s shoes is so much more than that! Angulus, Bisgaard, Bundgaard, En Fant and Pom Pom Sko are among our favourites in addition to funky fashion shoes from Melton and Molo Kids. When attending the trade shows there’s endless of racks filled up with styles and colours, and when you know what’s available it’s so disappointing most of it never reaches the shops and made available to the British consumers. Are we really only interested in black school shoes and red wellies?
Some online shops bringing a selection of children’s shoes to the British market:
Designer slippers and wellies at nordickids.co.uk
Selection of shoes, wellies and boots at kidsen.co.uk
Angulus, Bisgaard and lots of other designer brands at Igloo Kids
Online department store with Bisgaard shoes in stock sarenza.co.uk
Snowboots for arctic winters at outdoor clothing specialist shop raindrops.co.uk
I can’t believe that there’s not a market for a proper children’s shoe shop in London, with a wonderful selection of Scandinavian, Italian, Spanish, French and Austrian shoes for tiny feet. What do you think? Where do you shop for children’s shoes and are you happy with the selection?
Du har en fin samling av sko og tøfler og sko for barn og unge. Jeg liker det.
Brandosa.co.uk is selling Bundgaard shoes by mail order in the UK now
It’s totally rubbish buying kids shoes as the selection is often abysmally poor. We’re really lucky as there is a chain of shops in Edinburgh called Maddy and Marks who are brilliant. They stock Angulus shoes which are outstanding – my 2yr old had a pair of these mary-janes in silver with purple spots – really gorgeous – as well as a pair of sheepskin lined red leather boots with navy stars. Actually dread going in really as it’s often hard to choose just 1 pair!
OMG you are so blessed! Been looking through your photo stream on Flicker and I’m totally in love with your beautiful girls! http://www.flickr.com/photos/veroniquette/5647290150/in/photostream
Keep on sharing! xxx
I read your blog all the time and really enjoy it! It’s so nice to look at the styles you post – for admiration and inspiration. Thank you for your work! 🙂 http://www.flickr.com/photos/veroniquette/
Dear Veronika. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
The top picture is a beautiful pair of Mary Jane’s by Angulus, a lovely shoe brand from Denmark. And I remember talk about how children’s shoes should give support as well when I grew up. It’s very reassuring knowing your child has a good pair of shoes that gives the foot support as well as giving enough room to grow and develop. 🙂
xxx
And most shoe brands sizes vary as well. Although some online retailers are good with description on fit with exact measurement it’s always nice to have a good look and feel as well. Or at least know the brand before buying it online.
In Norway shoe shopping used to be a treat with a excellent selection, lovely staff and we would be leaving the shop with not only several new pair of shoes but also with a festive balloon. In the UK shoe shopping tend to be the dreaded moment; waiting, it’s messy in the store (with shoes and boxes everywhere), staff seems tired and stressed (they should notice that they are actually working with children!) and the selection poor. We’ll often leave empty-handed and with a altogether bad experience.
There’s certainly room for more great shoe shops around the country!
That pair of Mary Janes is adorable – I wish it came in my size! 🙂 What is the brand?
I’m a reader from the US, so unfortunately, I will be unhelpful. There are lots of choices in the US, but by complain is usually about the price and the fact how little people seem to care about arch support for toddlers and children (also, almost everyone wears absolutely flat feet – like flip-flops, which seem to ruin good way of walking). Growing up in Russia, there was so much talk about flat feet. I am constantly searching the web for european shoes which seem to have proper shoe construction.
Naturino makes cute and well made shoes
Livie and Luca shoes are adorable too
I too am disappointed by shoe choice in the UK. I always find lots of choice online but it annoys me when i actually want to get them fitted properly as online it is really a bit of a guess.
I find Clarks almost a last resort. In some of their shops the choice is appauling. We have a local shop that sells a few good brands but nowhere near the amount of good brands i find online. This summer i had to go to Liberty in London to get some sun san sandals for Kitty. I think it is definitely time for change!
I think you are right, Kate. When it comes to shoes the boys have a better and often more sensible offer. Lucky you having a proper shoe shop nearby. In my village there’s none. In neigbour village there’s a small shoe shop but they either stock school shoes, or beautiful leather shoes costing more than £100 which to me is too expensive for a non technical pair of footwear. (Goretex winter boots may set you back a £100 pretty quickly.)
Next time I’ll go to Norway I’ll make sure to take a few photos from a couple of shoe stores, as inspiration. Bianca x
I totally agree, I would have snapped up something like this for my 8 year old when I went to the shoe shop last week, and ended up with a pair of Camper boots. For an 8 year old, ouch. We are lucky enough to have an independent shoe shop in Brighton that stocks a lot of European brands, but no Scandinavian ones which is a shame. Girls shoes especially are often limited in choice beyond black school shoes and Lelly Kelly. The boys are a bit better served I think.