Up until now she has survived on awesome barely worn hand-me-downs from friends including a pair of Converse's and Nike Dunk Lo-Tops which she loved. We also purchased her a pair of TINY TOMS which she's yet to fully grow into and are more of a spring/summer shoe anyway. So little to no knowledge of the world that is toddler footwear we did what every new-age parent would do; we took to Google, Twitter an Etsy of course.
The first thing we did was to try searching for shoes we liked but in mini sizes so Google searches like "Vans Toddler", "Saucony Toddler" and "Converse Toddler" into Google were very helpful bringing up not only the companies online stores but an array of third party vendors where you can usually save a buck or two. One of these said vendors is everybody's favorite mall shoe store, Journeys, where we found pretty sweet shoes from Converse, Vans and Puma:
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CLICK HERE FOR ZEBRA LO TOP (v) <-----> CLICK HERE FOR SOLID HI-TOP (v) |
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| CLICK HERE FOR HELLO KITTY SLIP ON (v) <-----> CLICK HERE FOR PUMA VELCRO |
Thanks to a few friends on Twitter we heard of a website called Zappos.com which much like Journey's pulls in shoe's from a ton of different vendors to make it easy to search for and buy shoes in one convenient place without having to go to 40 different websites. Over at Zappos I found the same brands but with even more of an assortment to choose from:
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| CLICK HERE FOR PURPLE VANS <---> CLICK HERE FOR WATERMELON VANS CLICK HERE FOR AQUA LACELESS VANS <----> CLICK HERE FOR TEAL CHUCKS |
The Last place we checked was Etsy. If you don't know Etsy is an online location for artists and dealers to sell their product online easily and securely. It is an amazing place to search for handmade and vintage goods, INCLUDING SHOES! The only issue w/ Etsy when it comes to clothes (especially the vintage stuff) is it's hit or miss on the sizes available. Our family is big into used / hand-made for a variety of reasons:
- It's cheaper (sometimes)
- It's eco-friendly
- It's nice to support local artists
- You normally find something more unique and interesting than the mall has to offer
We searched through Etsy and look at some of the awesome finds we came up with:
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| 70s Buster Brown's CLICK HERE <--> 70s Crazy Child Oxfords CLICK HERE Vintage Queen Bee's CLICK HERE <--> 80s Dress Shoe's CLICK HERE |
So we havent as of yet made our purchase but I think we're leaning towards those super cute Watermelon Vans or the Teal Chucks. Not sure yet though! Open to any suggestions to a brand, shoe style or website where we could keep looking. Would love to hear your feedback! -Craig
p.s. please take a sec and vote for us on TBB, no sign up required just click this:
Love looking at cute toddler shoes. BTW... your voting link button thing isn't working (on the last couple of times you posted it).
ReplyDeleteLove those Pumas...my son has XW feet so we are very limited...we stick to New Balance they have some cute toddler shoes! We've bought three pairs, they last very well, and wash well too
ReplyDelete@Kate - Yeah I got sort of drawn in when looking for Sierra than decided I might as well just write a post about it - the cuteness is overwhelming! Thanks for the heads up about the voting link, going to fix now! EEK! -C
ReplyDelete@Sarah - Those PUMAs are sooo cute I love the velcro too I despise anything w/ ties, clasps, buttons, loops, etc I am constantly saying to Lauren: "HOW MANY BUTTONS DOES THIS DAMN DRESS HAVE! Obviously the designer never had children... ARGH!" / That stinks about the XW feet but NB's are awesome I have a few pairs myself for the 2 times a year I go to the gym. Any pairs you suggest, I'd love to take a look! -C
ReplyDeleteI despise anything but velcro, and slip ons as well. I remember when Curren was a baby, my husband was getting him dressed into his jammies in the other room..and i heard him on the monitor say "why the hell would they put so many snaps on baby clothes.." it was funny.
ReplyDeleteBefore I realized we hated ties we bought these:
http://www.finishline.com/store/catalog/product.jsp?sourceid=shopping&productId=prod651540&NEW%20BALANCE&cid=42&CAWELAID=370108476
and since then we've bought two pairs of these:
http://www.finishline.com/store/product/new-balance-toddler-993-running-shoe?categoryId=cat10007&productId=prod639777
I am torn. While a slip on would definitely be easier for on and off, I worry Sierra will take them off when she shouldn't! Or that they will come off if she is running and climbing, which is what happens sometimes with the Toms. My real stipulation is I don't want them to be pink because 99.9% of shoes for girls are pink or have pink and it drives me bonkers. :)
ReplyDeletealso, New Balance has XW and XXW toddler. We have a friend who is a Little Person and his mom can only get shoes for him there..just a little FYI!
ReplyDelete