Another school year has gone and we’re right in the middle of the summer holidays before the next educational year begins. The school holidays are for excitement, adventure, and making memories. But we also need to use this time to get ready for that new school year. If you are a parent, you know what we’re talking about. New uniform, new pencil case, new shoes. With that in mind, we’re going to look at Start-Rite school shoes and explore how they are going to help with our previous footwear woes.
Our Previous Issues With School Shoes
Our issues with school shoes go back a few years. We have three boys who are in primary school so that is three breaks (morning, lunchtime, afternoon) a day for each of them. That’s probably close to 90 minutes of playing football, running around, falling over, and climbing things. That’s a good few hours every week for shoes to withstand, as well as normal daily wear, crossing legs, and walking to and from school.
The shoes we’ve previously bought haven’t been long-lasting. They’ve been below average in terms of holding together and actually seeing out the year. You expect this from your school shoes. It works out at about 200 days a year that kids go to school. When you are spending a good chunk of money, you expect them to last. We’ve found that we’ve had to buy some of the kids two pairs throughout the year. It’s an unwanted expense.
We’ve also found that the sizing of shoes isn’t always ideal. One of our children has additional needs and complains about the feel of his shoes. This can include having to retighten his shoes throughout the day so they feel ‘right’. When most of the school shoes available have velcro fastening, we have found that the shoes are fine, but the fastening soon becomes useless. There is often not enough velcro on the strap for the ideal tightness that he requires too.
When a lot of your time in the morning is spent encouraging your kids to get ready for school, decent shoes that they actually want to put on are important.
Star-Rite School Shoes
We found that the team at Start-Rite put their shoes through some of the most rigorous tests! This is really interesting for parents as we all know that a new pair of shoes can come back having seen much better days, after just a few weeks of the new academic year.
- The shoes are flexed, twisted, and pulled to ensure that the uppers do not crack. Elastic gussets are tested to withstand over 20,000 flexes.
- Shoe linings are tested against a variety of materials for both colour fastness and wear. These tests take place in both wet and dry conditions.
- Soles can be terrible in some shoes so if Start-Rite school shoes soles don’t look as good as new after 500,000 steps, they do not make it into the range.
- Salt water is used to test metal components such as buckles and eyelets for corrosion.
- Riptapes are tested up to 5,000 openings, whilst fastenings and decorations are tested to breaking point.
The Shoes We Selected
For the new school year ahead, we selected Start-Rite school shoes based on the individual needs of our children. There is a whole range of shoes available, with different functionality and specifications. However, we felt the following styles were the best options for our youngsters.
Rhino Warrior
The Rhino Warrior model is for our eldest and I think is a good transitioning shoe from primary to secondary. The shoe has flex grooves in the sole unit which are designed to allow natural movement. The insole is removable and there is a comfortable mesh lining made of breathable material. For those football games in the playground, there is a toe bumper for durability and the heel is scuff resistant.
Yo Yo
We wanted to try laced shoes for our middle child who needs his shoes to be a certain tightness. The Yo Yo model seemed perfect! We can help him in the morning with the desired tightness using the laces, with no worries that they will come undone during the day if we double knot them.
These shoes allow for growth and foot development as the child ages. The leather is dyed for a scuff-resistant colour, perfect for those tree climbers! There is targetted flexibility too, so comfort will be paramount. I’m hopeful that the look and feel of these shoes will suit our son for the full year ahead, which is something we haven’t accomplished before. These Start-Rite school shoes will allow him to concentrate on his schooling.
Rocket
For our youngest, the Rocket shoes are ideal. They have Riptape so he can put his own shoes on and have that independence, whilst we know that the dyed leather and breathable mesh material will protect his feet. There is also an awesome glow-in-the-dark fastening that he will love showing to his friends. The envy of the school year for sure!
Final Thoughts
Start-Rite school shoes are definitely worth the investment. Whilst they are a premium style of shoe, perhaps more expensive than you will find in the supermarket for example, you can be sure that you won’t buy-cheap-buy-twice.
They are durable, they are going to last. They are going to allow your children to walk to school comfortably and be supported in their studies and play all day. There is a different model of Start-Rite school shoes for every student, from Riptape to lace-up, for both boys and girls.
If you want to be sure that your children’s feet are taken care of this next academic year, choose Start-Rite school shoes.
