I had a flashback today.
I was a kid and sat in Clarks the shoe shop in the Sixties. The shop assistant had my socked foot inside a sort of wooden machine. She drew a bar towards my toes and another one at each side of my foot.
It was a shoe fitting and the best shoe fitting I ever had.
In my mind I was being measured up for Clarks Commandos or Wayfinders but I bet it was for some really boring school shoes or even worse, sandals!
Anyways, my feet will have been size 7. They have been all my life!
Did you have a shoe fitting as a kid readers?
Which were your favourite shoes?
I remember that too. I also remember getting a free poster of a formula 1 racing car with a pair of Clarks shoes. I was never into any sport as a kid (not that much now either), but I did like that poster and had it on my bedroom wall for some time.
ReplyDeleteWhen I bought my first ever Project Sword toy (RTF 1) in Edinburgh back in 2003, it was preserved for the rest of our journey in a sturdy green Clarks shoe box. At the time for me it was like the Ark of the Covenant.
ReplyDeleteOh, the annual trip to Clarks for school shoes must have been fun for our mum. 4 of us kids to be fitted-what joy that must have been. I had sandals until at least 1970 (Joyance) and possibly as late as 1974 when I needed proper shoes for going to Comprehensive School. I remember the wooden, metal and plastic, and 'automated fitting machine' devices that were used to measure our tootsies. The automated machine was scary-you stood one foot in, and off it went ('eeks its going to squash my feets up!'), and repeated with the other. I think these machines were short-lived as I only remember one fitting using one. Much better to have a manual fitting! I think I had Commandos one year, but generally it was whatever style looked the most sturdy and hard-wearing (and we went through loads of those metal studs you hammered into the heels as they wore down). Of course, being a bigfoot (I am a 10 or 11) with a G width meant that certain styles weren't available anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I bought a pair of shoes was about 20 years ago; trainers are far cheaper and more comfortable.
As a kid, I had unusually broad feet, a EE fitting. I remember the cast aluminium Clarke's foot gauge and the Children's section of our local shoe store which featured a zoo cage display on the wall with puppet style animals inside. More vividly, I remember a defunct 1930s shoe XRay machine. There was something decidedly sinister about the slot you were meant to put your feet into!
ReplyDeleteOne other memory, does anyone else remember Ladybird kids shoes? I got a point of sale display Ladybird model which was red vacuum formed plastic with gloss black spray painted details and pipe cleaner legs!
My memory of shopping for Clarks shoes in the 50's was the x-ray machine to check on the 'fit'.
ReplyDeleteShopping for summer sandals at least meant x-rays were not needed.
For me the most comfortable of Clarks shoes in the 70's were their Wallabies, which were leather uppers with crepe rubber soles, They were extremely comfortable and wore well until production switched to Ireland and quality went downhill.
Ladybird Children's clothes and shoes were advertised in their store windows by a delightful array of anthropomorphized Ladybird figures one of which is on exhibit in London's V&A Museum of Childhood.