Shoes for thick feet?

[Just1More]

I have always had a hard time finding shoes for ds. His feet are wide, but not terribly. The real problem is that they are thick. From the bottom of his foot to the top of his foot is thicker than most, I guess. Even with a "wide" pair of tennis shoes, I can only velcro them halfway across the top of his foot. And they still leave uncomfortable looking lines.

He had a pair of hiking boots and his rain boots that worked over the winter. I found a pair of loafers for him, and he still has his boots.

But I'd really like a pair of sandles and a pair of tennis shoes for him.

Any suggestions? He wears about an 8.

[JBaxter]

My DS2 was like that. He wore a 2xw from stride rite until he was 2 or 2 1/2. His feet looked square There was usually only one or 2 styles they carried that fit well. I always had to take him in to get him fitted.

[elleystar]

My DS is like that too. When he was in soft soles we had to have them custom made. After that, the See Kai Run fit VERY well. Try a size 8 and see what you think. They end at size 9, so we had to find something else last fall when he outgrew those, and Livie & Luca are working out great.

[labdogs42]

Stride Rite. I had to wear their shoes as a child and DS does, too. Just because they call it "wide" doesn't mean the foot is necessarily wide side to side. It includes the circumference of the foot at the arch, too. Wide shoes have more volume in that arch area. I still wear wide shoes as an adult and it is because of the width of my foot and the height of my instep.

BTW, if you get him measured at Stride Rite, you can often find Stride Rite shoes at ShoeBuy and Zappos online, too. There are also Stride Rite outlets. SR shoes are not cheap!

[ElaynesMom]

We're using See Kai Run at the moment, but I've also bought my dd Soft Star Shoes before. They aren't as modern looking, but the sandals are very nice. You can send them your ds's specific measurements and they'll custom make them for you. You can also have custom made shoes with different colors if you don't like their instock styles. They have wonderful customer service and are very helpful.

[kirstenb]

DS's feet are the same way. RIght now he wears a 8.5xw. We also go to Stride Rite for his shoes. I agree, get him sized at a store.

[AKislandgirl]

I second soft star shoes. They are beautifully made and look so darn cute! We love them!

[Ceinwen]

The sales girl used to joke that my dd's feet were square too - super high instep, and really REALLY wide feet.

So far the only ones that fit are Livie & Luca.

[~Katie~]

Soft Star Shoes! We tried the 2X shoes from stride rite but they still didn't fit properly, because the problem was his instep in addition to width which are two different things. A lot of shoe companies don't take instep into account when designing children's shoes unfortunately.

With Soft Star you can email them exact measurements of his foot and custom design them with color, sole styles, etc. They even have a tutorial online to teach you how to size their feet. I've also just had to experiment and try different brands of shoes every time we get the chance. So far I found these at Old Navy and they run large and wide, so he's been able to wear a size 9 with plenty of growing room instead of the normal 10-10.5. He definitely needed something more substantial that protected his toes this year and these fit the bill.