Kids' shoes
Four models covering two different problems: feet that are too wide for standard sneakers, and children who cannot tie laces yet.
The wide toe box sneaker and the wide slip-on are on kids-specific wide lasts. Children's feet are proportionally wider than adults', and most mass-market kids shoes are adult lasts scaled down, which is why straps end up cutting across the top of a small foot. The slip-on goes further and is zero-drop with a flexible sole, in the barefoot style.
The web-print and lightning sneakers are standard widths with a bungee cord and toggle instead of laces. Both have pull tabs at the tongue and heel. They solve the getting-out-of-the-door problem rather than the width one, and it is worth knowing which of the two you are actually shopping for.
Before you pick a colour
- US kids sizes run 10, 11, 12, 13, then 1, 2, 3. The 1 is bigger than the 13.
- Re-measure every eight to ten weeks until school age. Children do not report that shoes hurt.
- Leave 10 to 12 mm of growing room, and no more, or the shoe slides when they run.
Kids Wide Toe Box Sneaker
Wide-fit kids sneaker with a hook-and-loop strap · 5 colours
Navy with a matching strap, and one of the two colours with more than a single size.
All black, which is usually what a school means when it says black shoes.
Pink mesh and a pink strap, with no second colour anywhere on the shoe.
Black with red trim, the sportiest of the five.
Purple, and bright enough that a child can pick it out of a cubby in a second.
Kids Wide Slip-On
Zero-drop barefoot slip-on for kids · 4 colours
Blue knit on a black sole, and the only colourway here stocked in two sizes.
Grey with pink, priced a few dollars above the rest of the slip-ons.
Plain black knit, which gets past a school dress code without an argument.
Red and blue together, easy for a small child to recognise as theirs.
Spider Web Boys Sneaker
Spider web print, bungee laces, no tying · 5 colours
Red web print, and the deepest size run in the model at three.
Black with green webbing, which is the version that shows up in poor light.
Black and blue, the quietest way to buy a web-print shoe.
Black with red web lines. Highest contrast of the five.
Black with white webbing, closest to a plain sneaker from across a playground.
Lightning Boys Slip-On Sneaker
Lightning graphic on the same bungee-lace platform · 4 colours
Blue with the bolt picked out in a contrasting colour down the side.
Red, with the bolt as the only other colour on the shoe.
Black with a tonal bolt, subtle enough for school.
Black with a red bolt, and the only lightning colourway carrying two sizes.