When it comes to their feet, it is really important to make sure that children wear comfortable, well fitting shoes. Little feet need room to grow in order to promote healthy development. Children's feet can have growth spurts, which can be hard to predict so regular measuring to check their foot sizing is really important. Ill fitting footwear can cause the child discomfort in the short term and may lead to foot problems or deformities in their adult lives.
Today, we took Freddy to Brantano in Telford so he could try out their free expert fitting service and get a brand new pair of shoes for school in order to review the experience and service.
Brantano have conveniently situated out of town branches in retail parks, where the shoes are displayed on the shelves in pairs allowing shoppers the freedom to select them and try them on immediately at their leisure. No waiting for assistants to find the ones you need. Shoes are arranged in sizes making it easy to see exactly what is available in your or your child's size.
Brantano stock top brands such as Startrite, Clarks and Hush Puppies. as well as Skittles, US Brass and Blox. They have an extensive range to suit all budgets and tastes, with many styles on sale.
Firstly, Freddy had his feet measured by a trained member of staff using a specially designed foot gauge to measure the length, width and depth of his feet. Staff are trained to be expert fitters for all shoes across the brands, and the lady who saw to Freddy was very friendly and made him feel at ease. As a mum, knowing I am getting Freddy shoes in the correct size is really reassuring as his foot health is very important to me (having lived with a bunion myself, I know the damage that ill fitting shoes can do!)
We were given a kids' fitting guide, a Back to School brochure, an "I'm a Brantano Kid" sticker, a certificate to tell us his foot size and a reminder card to remind us to get his feet remeasured for free in three months time (with no obligation to buy shoes if his foot size hasn't changed). I thought this was a really nice touch.
Armed with the knowledge that he was an 11F with an average depth, we were shown to the relevant shelf where we were free to browse the pairs of boys' shoes in his size. As he doesn't have a wide foot or anything out of the ordinary with his sizing, we had the pick of most styles available.
Freddy had his eye on all the funky trainers from Adidas, Nike and Skechers as well as character pairs featuring Skylanders, Angry Birds, TMNT and Minions. Unfortunately for him, they aren't really suitable for school uniform so we headed to the more appropriate footwear on the shelves!
Freddy then moved his attention to the boys' school shoe range. There were dozens of pairs in a range of brands, materials and styles, all in his size. It was so convenient to try on pair after pair without having to rely on asking a member of staff to fetch them from the stock room. Having both shoes available allowed us to see exactly how they looked as a pair and how they felt to walk in. This gave us the opportunity to try as many pairs as we needed to find Freddy's perfect shoe.
Bonus features such as scuff resistant uppers, one touch fastening, anti-microbial treatments, easy clean outers and flexisoles mean you can find a shoe that can keep up with the demands of even the most demanding schoolboy.
Freddy tried on lots of pairs and eventually chose a pair of velcro fastening, black leather school shoes from Buckle My Shoe, which cost £32. As soon as we had settled on the pair that Freddy liked, the lady who had measured his feet came to check the fitting, feeling for his toes and checking around the shoe for the width fitting.
The final check was the walk as he strutted his stuff with the Brantano aisle as his catwalk. We were assured that his shoes were indeed a good fit and he looked really smart in his comfy new footwear.
The Brantano experience suited us really well. We really appreciated the staffs' help when we needed assistance with the measuring and the checking of the shoes that we chose for Freddy. But we also liked being free to work our way through the pairs on the shelf in our own time without having to ask for a particular size or waiting for someone to fetch a matching shoe. This makes Brantano a more streamlined and fun shoe shopping experience that suited my family perfectly.
Freddy is going to look so smart with his new school shoes on Monday. I've put the reminder card on my fridge to jog my memory to take him back in September for another fitting to make sure that he always has shoes that fit his growing feet.
You can find out more about Brantano and view the great range of school shoes available to suit all budgets and tastes at www.brantano.co.uk.
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