Bearing in mind the considerable problems in sizing, should childrens shoes be sold online?
The SSF cannot condone selling childrens shoes online. Childrens feet are precious they are the hardest working part of a body and if malformed will affect the gait of the child to adult, which in-turn throws out other parts of the body. This leads to pressure on joints, trapped nerves etc. Even migraine has been attributed to ill-fitting footwear. There are many checks a qualified shoe fitter will do before selling shoes to a child and these are all done with their eyes and hands, asking a child to stand, walk, etc. A fitter will have the experience of seeing and comparing dozens of pairs of feet walk into their shop, and the knowledge gained from their training. A one day course may show how to put shoes on a child and handle a gauge, but there is no substitute to the information contained within our course material, our Workshops, and years of hands-on experience and the comfort of knowing there is a body of experts to back them up and on hand to assist with any concerns. Yes, have
