Startrite Shoes Reviews 67

My four year old son wore their trainers for a total of FOUR DAYS before they were completely ruined, with actual holes forming at the toe! The very first day he came home with the fronts scuffed down several layers. By day four you could see his toes! They are appalling quality to develop such defects in such a short space of time. He’s four years old, at nursery. They are now unwearable. These are shoes that are supposedly designed for children…how on earth do they justify this?! What’s worse is their customer service only offered to ‘recycle’ the trainers for me!! All that money on footwear that lasted four days and their response is to bin them!

I spent £40 on school shoes for my 4 year old son. Within 6 weeks they are heavily scuffed & faded. No other shoes we've bought from Next, or from Clarkes have been this bad. The quality is worse than what you might buy from a supermarket.

Really disappointed, Startrite once stood for quality.

We have two boys and bulk-bought 6 pairs of school shoes for them. Every single pair was destroyed within a term or so of them getting them.

In some cases, the leather scuffed away until their toes were showing. On others, the soles on both shoes had multiple massive holes so their feet got wet.

Maybe the worst quality shoes I've ever bought. Worse than stuff you'd get out of Primark.

The sole on our pair of “Sketch” school shoes physically detached within 5 months. When I contacted Start-Rite, they used surface scuffs as the excuse for why the sole came off, stating that “scuffs are not normal wear and tear."
In my view, surface scuffs are inevitable, but they shouldn't cause the shoe to fall apart. This is a clear failure of the adhesive/bonding process. If a shoe made specifically for school use cannot handle a few scuffs without the sole falling off, it is not fit for purpose. Very poor quality for the price.
I also find it shocking that while Start Rite partners such as Fenwick and John Lewis are clearing this line as "discontinued," Start Rite continues to sell them at full price on your website under claims of premium durability.

Very disappointed in the shoes quality. After having them worn a couple of times, the laces were all ripped and looked like they were several months old. Unfortunately, they are integrated elastic laces so I can't replace them.

The shoe quality is great, but I had a terrible experience with Customer Service. I bought a pair of shoes on discount for £15 and when it arrived it was one foot size 7.5 (INF) and other foot 8 (INF). I emailed them with picture evidence and they were willing to send me another pair of shoes at the same price. I sent them similar shoes as the replacement pair but on their replies the next day it would always be out of stock. After a few attempts of different replacement shoe options, I gave up and I just requested a refund after 1.5 months later on something I can not make use of, then they said I have to arrange a collection for the incorrect shoes. I voiced my concerns that it's a terrible customer journey to get £15 back on a pair of shoes they send in wrong size and customer needing to spend so much time on an issue caused by them. Unfortunately, it didn't make a difference to what they needed and I cannot spend more time on arranging collections myself, wrapping up shoes, communicating so left me to write a poor review.

Not very happy with startrite shoes. Purchased for my grandson £50.00 high top boots he has had them 2 months and they
are fraying on the tongue not happy how they have worn. Startrite shoes used to
be of top quality. I am afraid that is not true now. I would have given them no stars if I could. Customer services did not want to know nor did the outlet shop on Peachman Way Norwich where they were purchased from staff not helpfull at all.

We recently had excellent customer service from Start-Rite and my daughter is loving her new shoes.

Have been buying this brand for both of my children (B&G) at primary school for the past 4 years. Always used a local family shoe shop for expert sizing and fitting in Droitwich Spa, and each and every pair has lasted each of my kids from start of term in Sept to end of term the following July.

Since purchasing each a pair in Aug 25, both pairs have started to fail within 5-6 months beneath the Big Toe area of the sole and the heal has also collapsed on both pairs virtually failing on both pairs at the same time! Additionally, the interior of each child's shoe has also become threadbare and the sole has disintegrated.

In my opinion this is due to cheap manufacturing and poor quality materials.

Will NEVER be spending good money on this brand of shoe again!

Lovely shoes 😍 bought a cute pair of pink canvas dabs. Well made and chuffed they can be thrown in washing machine. I'll be back for school shoes soon!

Be cautious about Start-Rite’s claims of durability. I’ve purchased from them before and was previously happy with the quality, which is why I chose them again. But this time, I was very disappointed.

One pair of school shoes was badly damaged in less than three months of normal daily use. When I contacted customer service, they simply blamed the damage on my child rather than taking any responsibility.

For a brand that promotes its shoes as suitable for everyday school wear, this response was unacceptable. I expected better product quality — and much better support.

If I could give zero stars, I would.

My daughter has been wearing the navy blue patent puzzle shoe for 5 months as a first walker shoe (had been walking 2 months before this). This shoe has been great as she has gained confidence walking. They haven't really scuffed at all despite falling over lots and wearing a lot including at nursery. She seems comfortable in them and has been choosing them over her other shoes. Easy to get on and off. Her feet are a G and they fit well.

Bought shoes online for my niece. Website was easy to use, parcel arrived quickly and when I spoke to the lady on the phone to query which size she was polite and helpful. Shoes are gorgeous and seem very well made. Will be back again :)

Terrible quality shoes, do not buy!
We got the Rhino Trooper leather shoes for my son - these cost £69.00. They are supposedly harder wearing than the standard shoes but this is not the case at all. After only 4 months there is big hole in one sole and another hole starting on the other shoe. The grip on both has also completely worn off.
I contacted Startrite to complain and they acknowledged this isn't what they'd expect of their shoes - although reading other people's reviews it seems as though all of their shoes fall apart within the first few months so it shouldn't come as a surprise to them.
They said they would send a replacement pair however when I requested the next size up - a reasonable request given that I would like this pair to last my son more than a few months - they said they could only send the same size. This was because they said if he had outgrown the shoes it meant they had been fit for purpose. So Startrite is basically saying it's fine for their £69 shoes to wear out after 4 months of use.
When we tried to query it the customer service representative got very defensive and irritated and offered no apology. Terrible shoes and terrible customer service. Avoid, save your money and buy elsewhere.

My daughter’s 4th pair of school shoes. The first 3 years have all been Clark’s and every single pair have lasted the year every time. Our first time with start rite for school shoes for my both my daughters and both pairs within the first month were looking daggy and the patent coming away. Infact my youngest is now wearing my eldests old Clarks as id put them as way as back up and so glad I did! I contacted start rite who didn’t want anything to do with this as I brought them from a high street store and one pair online through next. The quality is shocking for £55 each. I’ve learnt my lesson and would never buy again.

The Start-Rite school shoes have been a huge disappointment. After just three months, the rip stopped working on both shoes. This is not the quality expected from a proper school shoe.

The shop Fenwick in Bentell was just so bad handling this!
Never again

At the beginning of September I bought a pair of school shoes for my grandson. the style was "Learn, Black leather Simply by Start-Rite boys rip-tape school shoes". Before the first term was even finished, the sole had completely come away from the upper part of the shoe on the left foot, and the right shoe is now starting to do the same. This is NOT the standard I expect from Startrite. We have been buying their shoes for 60 years. Very disappointed.

I would give zero if I can.

The shoes are so painful to wear and resulting a huge lump on both side of my children (twins) feet, at the same position.

Despite e-mailing the customers services multiple times with images of the lumps, with the shoes on marking the rubbing of the lump position, photo of the children measurement using Startrite gauge. Louise continue to find excuses to refund or even admit the shoes is at fault.

Do not buy from them, shamed not them to have such a poor services for selling children shoes.

Have ordered a pair of shoes for my son who just started year 1 in primary. Ordered them on time so he can wear them at home for a little a few times to make sure the fit is right. Ordered the correct size based on a measurement taken at Clark's few days before I ordered the shoes. After all this I trusted they will be great for him.
He came out on his first day limping and crying, the hard leather rubbed his little feet, giving him bruises and a giant blister.
Messaged StartRite asking how to return, explaining what happened. Their advice was to keep the shoes as Clark's measurements are bigger than theirs and he will grow into them. And let him break the shoes in.
How could anyone advise to put a barely 6 year old into shoes that make him sore to "break a pair in"?
I get that the shoes are not faulty - although debatable that there are no manufacturing faults with this particular pair that makes the leather harder or badly aligned which is invisible to the naked eye, but his foot felt it - but they are certainly not fit for purpose. The fact they advising their customers to torture their children is ridiculous though.
They haven't responded to my emails in a while either. They point blank ignoring me. All I get is an out of office reply. Surely they don't just have one person manning their customer service?

I can completely agree with other reviews on here. Since I have had a similar experience of recieving sub par quality shoes, which seem to have been made with inferior materials looking shabby very quickly (within a month) and then developing a large hole within 3 months of regular wear. I don't believe any shoes should last less then 6 months with regular wear and tear. If a child's shoe wears this fast. There is something seriously wrong with the quality. It's not as if my 4 year old was kicking concrete repeatedly for a hole to develop. Just regular wear. The customer service was unhelpful, I sent shoes back for inspection and they decided that it was not a manufacturing fault. Having previously had very good quality of shoes from them, I am extremely disappointed and imagine that shrinkflation and cheap materials have something to do with this latest pair- Enigma. Avoid. Overpriced and poor quality.