Cheap shoes lasting.

sky

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 10:08 pm

I keep seeing comments that poor should get vouchers for shoes at Zara, Walmart, children’s place.

My kids shoes are from there. Even clearence walmart Smile

.

But they don’t last.
The school shoes from Zara are 7 weeks old. They are peeling. Heels are separating.
In the past carter and Walmart shoes lasted me 2-3 months. Children’s place less.
My kids are not hard on their shoes. A $100 pair of Shabbos shoes (bought for $60) still look beautiful 15 months later.
The Zara Shabbos shoes look like garbage after 6 weeks.
My boys Shabbos shoes for $60 last pesach to pesach. Children’s place Shabbos shoes are peeled and worn by shavous.

In some ways my return is much higher on the better quality shoes. Especially if I get a sale.

(I have had expensive duds of shoes that peeled but not too many)

Do people really find they compare quality wise?

cbsp

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 10:18 pm

Your post reminds me of Sam Vimes “Boots” Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness, (Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms , 15th book in the Discworld series):

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

This was the Captain Samuel Vimes ‘Boots’ theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

OutATowner

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 10:23 pm

It's interesting, my kids' childrens place shoes lasted way longer than the expensive brand someone gave me (boys shabbos shoes, peeled within a few weeks).
Their Target shoes also hold up really well.
I'm not saying the expensive ones aren't good, I wouldnt know other than that one pair, but just sharing my experience.

southernbubby

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 10:32 pm

I have had long lasting wear from Walmart shoes but bought them for a grandchild when she was three and they fell apart after a month.
Expensive shoes can also fall apart after a short time but in general I think that I get much more wear out of them.

flowerpower

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 10:55 pm

ra_mom wrote:

I don't buy cheap school shoes but do buy cheap shabbos shoes that are worn once a week.

Same. You really can’t compare the quality. My girls got shabbos shoes from Zara. Loose-lief paper is thicker than the sole and it has no support. The Zeebra shoes my preschooler has for shabbos isn’t very supportive either. My toddler has Target Shabbos shoes and those are better quality than the others.

seeker

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 10:58 pm

I find it's always a gamble. There was the year I bought my kid $70 sneakers at a store in boro park, within two weeks the heel was worn THROUGH and they offered nothing more than "sorry."

In general, I have found:
- Payless is a huge loss overall. By far best quality of the cheaps.
- Sneakers seem to have similar life span wherever I buy. Walmart was fine.
- Crocs and natives, generics take a kid through a season or two just fine.
- School shoes I want both better support and holding up to daily heavy use. Really cheap ones aren't going to get you there. Mid range like stride rite and pediped are GREAT. Problem is that their girls styles get nerdy by the time you're in 3rd grade.
- Shabbos shoes I don't care as much because they're only wearing once a week. The cheap ones are really a dice roll, I've had $20 shoes that lasted until the kid outgrew them and $20 that looked like garbage in a DAY (the day being this Rosh Hashanah and now we have a crisis, but never mind that...) My take on this is that when the "quality" stores want $90+ for the real Italian leather equivalent, you still come out way ahead if you have to replace the garbage shoes a couple of times, which I usually don't.
- Actually I don't think I can keep my kids in shoes without Payless, how was that allowed to happen?

Librarian

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 11:31 pm

I don't know if any one else ever had this issue but I had always bought my children's shoes in the local frum shoe stores. With my youngest, however I thought I would be smart and I bought most of his shoes from Walmart. He is the only one of my kids to develop flat feet - so severe that at age 9 he could not even climb the staircase in my home. He hobbled around like an elderly man. All the money I saved went to the purchase of arches. BH he eventually out grew the problem but in my mind I have always linked it to the cheap shoes.

sky

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 11:43 pm

ra_mom wrote:

I don't buy cheap school shoes but do buy cheap shabbos shoes that are worn once a week.

I feel like my kids walk way more on Shabbos and need to be more comfortable . Shul, simchos, bnos, playing with friends, visit family. Only one of my kids out grew her pesach shoes and I got her the Zara Shabbos shoes. I’m really regretting it now... at least when she is ready for a new pair the stores will start their sales.

HonesttoGod

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 11:48 pm

How many kids have you known that wear the same shoe size for 15 months?
After 6 months my kids generally go up a size. Sometiems. A year.

So if I buy a pair of shoes in Walmart of children’s place or even amazon for $20. On let’s say $30 to give a bigger bracket.
They last for 3 months. By that point I must buy another pair. So I do. Another $30.
That’s $60 so far, 2 pairs of shoes, 6 months.

The European shoes they sell in the jewish stores last for 6 months too. I’ve never had a pair of European shoes for $80-100 that lasted more than that either my kids grew out of them or they were scuffed scraped and torn. Like the Walmart shoes after 3 months.
But I’ve had 2 pairs for $60 instead of 1 pair for $80+++.

Do the math.

sky

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 11:49 pm

HonesttoGod wrote:

Most of my kids. Only one child outgrew her pesach shoes. Even my toddler isn’t getting new. I find elementary age kids their shoe sizes really slow down. I only buy neutral color Shabbos shoes.

seeker

Sat, Oct 12 2019, 11:52 pm

I guess Shabbos walking depends where you live maybe. My neighborhood is not so big so we're not usually going far, and we do more walking during the week. I imagine if you live in a suburb and drive everywhere but your friends' homes are farther to walk, it would be the opposite. City life lends itself to walking more but shorter distances at a time.

Regarding flat feet, it's an interesting theory. One of my kids needs arches for flat feet but that has been since she was a toddler and the podiatrist said it's just the type of feet she was born with. When I buy cheap shoes I do look for supportive ones (for weekday). I see plenty of people in Brooklyn walking horribly and they all look like they're wearing expensive shoes, so I sort of had the opposite conclusion, that maybe people who shop in trendy stores are paying more attention to how they look than to how good they are for your feet. But again that's completely speculative and I have no idea if there's a relationship one way or the other.

dankbar

Sun, Oct 13 2019, 12:06 am

last yr I bought for my dgtr at end of season by gap shabbos shoes. for $7. They lasted her part of winter plus spring/summer till she outgrew them.
Summer before got her expensive shabbos shoes only for her to lose one at an hotel & had a close family simcha in summer where she ended up wearing her sandals, as she lost her shoe beg of summer & didn't replace.
This year she got slip on sneakers by local store but threw down from porch never to be found again. I got it for her before pesach & figured got a sneaker style from a reg shoe company so they can double as spring shoes & summer sneakers, (they were priced like shoes not like sneakers) but they were lost when summer started. Bought a pair of sneakers from gap for $30. Was too big on her & didn't support her feet so returned but it was after the date so they gave me a credit slip of $9 for them.

So go figure. You can never be smart enough.

goforit

Sun, Oct 13 2019, 12:36 am

seeker wrote:

Btw I have found that oldnavys sneakers last the full season.

sky

Sun, Oct 13 2019, 1:36 am

goforit wrote:

Btw I have found that oldnavys sneakers last the full season.

Sneakers overall I find last regardless of price point. Vans, Skechers, Sperry, Toms You can find cheap on sale and they’ll go a whole season plus. I never find those worth it to spend more on.

ddmom

Sun, Oct 13 2019, 1:36 am

HonesttoGod wrote:

If we're doing math you will also have to include the couple extra hours to buy an extra pair of shoes! If you're lucky and you find in the first store you go to for the price you're ready to spend! (Plus all the logistics that go along!)
Im not saying that your math is not right, I've done both jewish store and payless!
Actually my 3yr old wore today shabbos shoes that I got in payless for $1.50 when they were closing. He went to mincha with my husband and came back with the front peeling! He wore them a half hour at most!
Bh, it was super cheap but it's upsetting!
I usually do like ra.mom shabbos shoes from non jewish stores and I try to find better quality for weekday because they're worn everyday!

DrMom

Sun, Oct 13 2019, 1:47 am

My kids are B"H very active, so unless we are talking about footwear for the beach, I buy them good sturdy name-brand shoes for everyday wear.

I usually wait for sales or buy last year's styles to save $, but if necessary, I'll pay full price. If I see a good sale, I may buy their current size plus a size up so when they outgrow them they have a pair waiting for them.

My kids have pretty basic tastes and are not so concerned about "what's trendy" so this works out well for us.

I tried on shoes at Zara once when I saw a really cute pair on sale. All my shoes are good quality shoes (I walk a lot), and by comparison, these felt like cardboard. Needless to say, I did not buy them, and stuck with my Clarks/Naot/Ecco shoes that last many years and are comfortable.

LovesHashem

Sun, Oct 13 2019, 3:32 am

I never have bought shoes from "fashion stores" simply because at first glance they look like thin paper cardboards that will break within a month or two.

I never understood those that buy them.
I have bough boots before, but only when they're cheap or on sale.
I don't buy 200-300 shekel junk that will break by the end of the season. I could go to To Go or Scoop and get the same thing for 100 or 50.

HonesttoGod

Sun, Oct 13 2019, 8:37 am

ddmom wrote:

Amazon or Zappos etc have a great selection and yes buying online is annoying but have you been to the Jewish stores? An easy one hour wait.

I’m not saying I haven’t paid for the convenience but they have never ever lasted more than 6 months and it hurts when they’re so expensive. This season they didn’t have anything cheaper than $100. For little kids!!! I just cannot forgive myself for spending that on a kids shoe when I barely buy myself shoes for $50 and those last for years!