I need to some way of becoming part of Clarks shoes other than as a customer that is bled dry each January. I think this each year. And is it just me or do they do their own inflation adjusted repricing each year, because every year the bloody expensive shoes seem to get more bloody expensive?
I kid myself that I'll go to the shops and buy the Clarks Lookalikes, you know the ones that are probably the same shoe but without the labelling, and that you find in shoe shops called "Best 4 Less" or "Damn Cheap Shoes" or "Fake Clarks Shoe Shop", but I still get pulled along to the expensive shoe shops, lulled into a false sense of security by the 25% off School Shoes* sign (*only applies to infant shoe sizes) where some shop assistant only a few years older than my son talks me into spending over $100 per pair of shoes. Even though my son's feet are almost as large as mine, I hear the words "feet still developing", "possible podiatry issues later in life", and "weakened ankles" and I think that I would be doing my children a podiatric (made that word up) injustice by putting them in the same pair of shoes but without the Clarks label. But with another year and another GFC (at least in our house) where cost cutting is the continuing name of our game, I'm looking at our collection of scuffed skanky school shoes with fluff built up in the velcro versions and frayed laces, and I'm thinking - lets get a little creative this year and see what recycling opportunities there are.
This week I asked the kids whether their shoes were tight at the end of last year, wisely my boys remember those trips to the overpriced department stores, where their mother gets more stressed waiting for the 16 year old shop assistant to "go out the back" for customer number 75 and her number says 103, and she's run out of snacks, and she thrusts the two style options in their faces, even though they're identical, asking - "which one boys?"
They've shaken their heads, saying nah, they'll be fine, and even though I feel a twinge of guilt that I may be creating the equivalent of school shoe bound chinese feet, I'm going to roll the dice, get out the shoe polish and buy some new laces.
I hope none of my lovely Peeps out there are Clarks employees, because if there are, seriously they are the best shoes EVER.
I dread the shoe buying trip each year. I did it twice last year for school shoes. The first time I bought the cheap ones and then six months later the Clarks. Guess which ones stood the test of a soccer playing 9 yr old and a slopping-on-the-back-of-my-shoes 12 yr old - yes the cheap Kmart ones.
ReplyDeleteI fell for the coupon in my mailbox that said special discount for returning customers...hot footed down there and realized it was a special offer for every bloody person that involved $5 off the sport shoes when you buy the school shoes...$169 later and I walked out feeling like a fool! We have the 'shoe man' that lurks near the canteen but I don't want to be judged as that mum that buys cheap shoes...I'd prefer to do it in private (and I will next year
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