Children need careful fitting for shoes

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33706, 2 December 1974, Page 6

Children need careful fitting for shoes

A parent has two choices when buying clothes for the kids—take them along and face long, sometimes noisy negotiations in public, or go shopping alone and risk determined rejection when the garmenth are tried on at home.

When it comes to shoes, though, there is no choice. The child has to be fitted. And although most children today have firm ideas on fashion, their opinions on fit can be misleading. Their pliable feet can be remarkably accommodating. They have little judgment on the amount of room their feet need in the shoes. Many children, too, would wear a shoe that took their fancy even if it hurt.

Most parents, apparently, rely on the child’s opinion of the fit of a shoe. Trained footwear sales staff, however, know better. They know that it is not enough to ask the child if the shoe! fee's comfortable. Young feet need to be measured,; and the fit of the shoe pro-' perly gauged.

A call for retailers to accept responsibility for providing a comprehensive fitting service was made recently by Mr Frank Carter, president of the New Zealand Footwear Retailers’ Association.

Finding a shoe that fits properly is not so difficult in school shoes; the styling is more standardised, and a wider selection of multiple fittings is available. Dre.ssedup shoes, particularly party shoes for girls, come in fewer fittings. And little girls learn to be vain about their feet at a very early age.

Mr Carter believes many retailers hesitate to provide a complete fitting service because most footwear manufacturers do not produce a full range of width fittings.

>o pain Unlike adults, who can I usually judge whether their j shoes are ill-fitting, childiren’s feet are still pliable land can be moulded to an unnatural shape without necessarily causing pain, Mr Carter says.

The importance of fitting for children’s growing feet cannot be overestimated, he says. Worn over a period of time, ill-fitting shoes can cause permanent foot damage without the child even realising it.

A foot forced into an illfitting shoe is like an orange squeeezd into an irregular shape, he says. Its basic structure is unnaturally altered and internally damaged. This produces inflammation and swelling, which with persistent wearing of unsuitable shoes, produces painful callouses and even permanent disfigurement. Mr Carter says that many manufacturers discontinued production of multiple width shoe fittings for adults and even children, when pointed

toes became fashionable in the late 19505. They found that in adults’ shoes, the longer toe enabled a reduction in their range of width fittings because a narrow foot could be accommodated by a smaller sized shoe. In many cases, footwear lasts were revised, significantly reducing the number of width fittings for any one shoe size.

While the revised fitting system adequately serves most adults, it is fortunate, he says that multiple shoe fittings are still readily available for children. He considers the substantial financial outlay required to carry a comprehensive j range of width fittings discourages retailers from meticulous attention to shoe ■fitting.

Public service But the public is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of fit when buying shoes, particularly for children, he says. The retailer who is prepared to stock multiple fittings provides a valuable public service.

A number of footwear retailers consulted in Christchurch recently stock multiple fittings for children — when they can get them.

A chain of shoe stores that pays special attention to the fitting and measuring of children’s feet impresses on its staff the need to take particular care with children. The stores stock, according to the management, the widest possible range of multiple fittings. The shoe buyer of a city department store that claims a reputation for fitting all feet sizes, expressed concern at the lack of multiple i fittings in party shoes. [School shoes, he said, were ;not a problem. Mr M. F. O’Brien, managing director of a city footwear firm believes the retailer cannot be expected to bear the responsibility for providing multiple fittings. “There are only two or three manufacturers in New Zealand who make multiple fittings for children, and all stores can’t be expected to carry the same stock,” he says.

The retailer can provide a number of fittings, he says, by knowing the variations in the lasts used by different manufacturers. Some use wider or narrower lasts than others, and by buying over the range the retailer gets variety in styling and fitting.

The onus is certainly, he says, on the retailer to fit children properly. Most parents, he says, leave proper fitting to the sales staff, and few realise that a child aged 10, 11, or 12 grows at least one shoe size a year.