Treads School Shoes – Are they indestructible?

We were sent a pair of Treads school shoes for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

I’m not sure what my 7 year old son does with his school shoes. Within a day or two of wearing them, they are usually scuffed and fraying. I constantly despair that I spend around £50 a time on something which within 48 hours of first wear look like they’ve been run over by a truck. Treads are a new kind of shoe. They come with a one year guarantee and are said to be indestructible. But can they cope with the treatment my son routinely dishes out to his footwear?

We chose the Madrid style, which is the style of show he usually wears for school. They have velcro straps to fasten them and are comfortable, trainer style shoes, but smart enough to pass a uniform inspection. They are £45 (but are currently just £35 – a bargain!).

Treads School Shoes - Are they indestructible?

These Madrid school shoes are designed for active children. They’re made with soft permair leather and the tough, durable sole is moulded to the upper, so no glue. They have reinforced heels, reinforced seams, they’re scuff proof and have a shock absorbing insole. They appear to be very well-made. My son tends to wear the toes of his shoes quicker than anything else, so it was good to see that the toe area has been reinforced.

Treads School Shoes - Are they indestructible?

These school shoes are fitted with ‘dual fit’ technology which means there is a padded and shaped insole inside which you can remove if you need a wider fit for the shoe. I think this is a great idea, I know the width of my son’s feet seems to change each time we get him measured.

Treads School Shoes - Are they indestructible?

Treads currently have eight different styles of shoe to choose from and the Madrid style we have chosen are perfect for my son. They’re easy to get on and have the easy velcro strap fastener, so he can have them on and be off running within a moment.

The Treads school shoes arrived during the Easter holidays; so although he’s not worn them to school yet, he has worn them for several days to break them in. He’s worn them to an adventure playground and to a local farm; so I feel he’s given them a good work out.

He’s told me that they’re very comfortable, or in his words “like my slippers”. The soles have really good grips and he’s walked over slippy surfaces at the farm in them with no problems. The adventure playground was full of things he could and should have scuffed them on; but apart from some mud splatters they look as good as new.

I am absolutely delighted with them. We’ve tried rough, tough “indestructible” shoes before from leading brands; but they’ve all come home after a few days looking battered and bruised. I have incredibly high hopes for these Treads school shoes. I think, I really really do think these might actually be genuinely indestructible. Even if they’re not, they do have a one year guarantee.

There are several different styles of school shoes on the Treads website, with a girls range planned for next year. If your children have a habit of destroying their school shoes; then I’d say it was well worth having a look at TREADS to see if they are the answer.

Treads School Shoes - Are they indestructible?

Update: Feb 2022. Regrettably Treads ceased trading in 2021, which is a shame because we were big fans and always bought their shoes for school.

Hotter Shoes Livvy – My perfect summer pair

It may be summer, but there’s a part of me which still feels reluctant to fully cast aside my winter boots. Maybe it’s because they look great with my leggings, maybe it’s because they’re so darn comfy, but probably it’s because apart from one sultry week, we’re still enjoying frequent showers of rain, with the odd wintery deluge of hailstones. Despite this I have dusted down a few old summer faithfuls and I’ve got myself a fancy new pair of Hotter Shoes – Livvy. Check out these beauties, they’re new in and I adore the colour.

Hotter Shoes Livvy

I fell in love with them on the website and once they were in my hands I loved them even more! I chose the stunning turquoise colour, but they’re also available in mustard, putty, magenta and light taupe. These cost £59 and they are beautifully soft and comfortable.

Hotter Shoes Livvy

As you can see from the inside of the shoe, there is plenty of padding which means they are so comfortable to wear. There are little holes punched in the sides and all over which allow your feet to breathe, making them ideal for hot summer days.

They look really stylish and eye-catching too. I wore them casually with some leggings and the next day I wore them with a nice summer dress, they looked equally lovely with both outfits.

Hotter Shoes Livvy

They are available in three width fittings, standard, extra wide and slim fit. I went for standard and I will say that they are quite roomy, perhaps this is because I’m not wearing my socks with them, so that’s worth taking into consideration if you are treating yourself to a pair.

The soles are quite nice and grippy as well as being quite thick, which for me is a good thing, I often find summer shoes have quite thin and flimsy soles, these are obviously well made and robust, which is what you’d expect from Hotter. They are really, really good quality and they’ll last me for years.

It’s fair to say I love them, and they really stand out against my increasingly ancient selection of boring black and cream sandals. These gorgeous, colourful Hotter Shoes are my perfect summer pair!

Note: I won these gorgeous shoes from Hotter and loved them so much I wrote about them.

Is it ever ok to wear sandals and socks?

This afternoon there was a knock at the door, a nice man handed me a bag of lovely summery things I’d ordered off the interweb. I scampered upstairs to try them on. I ooohed and ahhhed over a few things, then upon spying the lovely pair of gladiator sandals I’d ordered, choirs of heavenly angels did sing. It was shoe love. I’d found the one (pair) I’d been dreaming of.

Slipping them on I declared them to be perfect, that was until I took my first few steps and the agony of a new leathery shoe rubbing against my tender cankle was too much to bear. I took to Twitter to crowd source a solution. There was a resounding “dunno”, with a few people suggesting plasters. To me, the solution was obvious.

I spend most of my days sat in my work chair at home, tapping on my keyboard. No one sees me, no one of consequence anyway, so I popped some socks on and slipped into my sandals. Let the breaking in process commence. I sat and wiggled my toes while I worked. My feet seemed excessively comfortable and warm, but not too hot. Wait! My feet were the perfect temperature. My feet might have been the happiest they’ve ever been.

I got up and moved about. The sandals didn’t rub, my feet felt amazing, they didn’t look like they should sashay down a catwalk any-time soon, but they felt AMAZING. Could sandals and socks be the future?

I have a friend, an older retired gentleman who had a lengthy career in the legal profession. He tells me gleefully that during the summer months he was known for wearing sandals and socks, even in court. He tells me that sandals and socks are both hygienic and cool (cool in the temperature sense though, we know sandals and socks are NEVER cool). He styles it out by wearing crazy, brightly coloured socks and I salute him for that. He thinks sandals and socks are the future too.

I am awfully, awfully torn by this situation. On one hand, sandals and socks feel glorious, I truly believe my feet have never been happier. Happy feet equal a happy person, and for one all too brief afternoon I was happy. Happier than I’ve been in a long time. But on the other hand, sandals and socks. Sandals AND socks. I’m not sure I’ve got the stones to leave the house in sandals and socks without irony or for fancy dress purposes.

So for now, with deep and considerable regret, I will remain a closet wearer of sandals and socks. Try it, I urge you in the privacy of your own home to experience the seductive joy of sandals and socks. If you do enjoy it, please spread the love and share the word. I truly believe that sandals and socks ARE the future.

Can I get a Hell Yeah!

Walking for health with Hotter Shoes

Regular readers will know I have a bad back, it’s so bad that it’s probably going to be fused sometime this year so I have to be careful about what kind of shoes I wear. I can’t wear heels or anything especially frivolous, but that’s fine because heels and frivolity aren’t much called for on the school run. I’ve had my eye on a nice pair of Hotter Shoes for a while, so I was really excited when these beauties turned up in the post.

Aren’t they beautiful? They’re called Star and they are described as a “smart ladies sports shoe”. For me they are a really comfy pair of trainers. I do a lot of walking, so a good, comfortable, supportive trainer is essential. It has a deep PU sole which is filled with millions of tiny air bubbles which help give the shoe a bit of bounce.

I wore them out and about on the school run, visiting a couple of clients, going out for coffee with friends and for a leisure walk I try and do a couple of times a week for exercise. These lovely trainers from Hotter Shoes were really comfortable and supportive. Not only that but they look seriously great, one sporty Mum asked me if they were high performance trainers and several other people commented on how cool they looked.

They certainly turn heads but for the right reasons. Admittedly I did choose what I thought was the funkiest colour available, in my favourite colours, teal and navy so they do match approximately 80% of my wardrobe anyway. I love them, I really love them.

Made in England, this shoe has a suede like upper which is made from Microfibre and leather and the sole is Polyurethane, and has contrast stitching which I love. I take a UK size 7 standard width fitting. These are a really good fit, comfortable to walk and run in with no wiggle or rubbing, new shoes always rub me but these didn’t. I wore them for six hours on the first day and they were comfortable from when I put them on to when I took them off.

Importantly for me, some shoes can alter my posture which makes my back hurt more than usual, the supportive nature of these helped me stand correctly and they didn’t increase my pain levels, for this reason and because they look so darn good too, I’ll be treating myself to more Hotter Shoes in the future. Honestly, they feel like your feet are having a lovely warm hug.

Note: I was sent a pair of Hotter Shoes free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are my own.

New Shoes

I don’t actually like shopping. All that walking around looking at things and trying to decide if you need them in your life or not. It’s just not for me. I tend to do most of my shopping online these days, but there are some things you can’t get away with buying online. I’m talking about shoes.

My pesky little monkey keeps growing and I’ve heard rumour that he won’t stop for another 13 or 14 years. Every so often he has a massive growth spurt and overnight seems to be wearing clothes at least two sizes too small for him. His feet too. We get him measured regularly and despite this overnight he goes from sprinting round the place like Mo Farrah in a soft play centre, to hobbling about and crying because his shoes don’t fit. It is at best exasperating.

On Saturday we went on a shoe buying mission. The brief: to buy shoes and wellies since he’d grown out of them, again. Being shopping haters we left home at the crack of dawn (about ten past nine) to avoid most of the shoppers, the plan to be in and out before most people had finished their breakfast.

As ever the plan worked and we sped into Clarks. We sped around Clarks, got him measured and picked up what we needed. In this case a rather fetching pair of blue wellies, ready for our English “summer” holiday later this year and a pair of Dino-tastic shoes for general use with a dinosaur hologram on the side. He was happy. We were happy and what’s more, we were home in time for Saturday Kitchen.

Review: Happi Feet Shoe Fresheners

In our house there are two boys (one big, one small) and me. We have a cloakroom (but alas no cloaks) and most of our shoes live on the floor of the cloakroom. In the warmer weather when you walk past, you are aware that that’s where the shoes live because of the gentle hum of feet wafting under the gap under the door.

Thankfully I was sent a pack of happi feet shoe fresheners to try. These are innovative shoe fresheners which sit above the sole allowing the shoe to breathe whilst freshening it with one of the four scents from their range –

Caribbean beach breeze
Japanese cherry blossom
Freshly laundered
Madagascan vanilla

I tried the freshly laundered, which to me is probably the most logical clean foot smell. It does indeed smell clean, fresh and having used it on my stinkiest, most ancient walking boots for a few days, I can confirm they smell much, much better. I’ve juggled them about and tried them in a few different pairs of our shoes and it’s all good. Plus they have the added benefit of making the cloakroom smell fresher too.

Happi feet are available from Tesco and retail at just £2.60 a pack which lasts approximately 6 weeks. You can swap them from shoe to shoe as and when needed.

Disclaimer: I was sent a packet of happi feet shoe fresheners for review purposes, all images and opinions are my own.

Anticipation

This is something I wrote ages ago that I found when I was sorting out some paperwork. I still open all parcels the same way…

A parcel arrived in the post, my name and address written in neat black ink, the sides of the parcel were stuck in regular lines with brown tape.

I gave the box an excited shake, whatever it was thudded around inside. I put the box down and thought hard about what it could be. I picked it up again and felt the weight of it in my hands. Intrigued and excited I tore at the paper, but the brown tape got the better of me. I desperately gnawed at it with my teeth. Breaking through and ripping the paper off.

Finally the contents began to reveal themselves to me. A bright orange box, embossed with four letters. D.K.N.Y. I squealed with excitement.

The box was cellotaped shut which slowed me down a little. I was desperate to get in. I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, using it to hack at the tape until I finally managed to break through. I frantically scrabbled to open the box.

And there, inside, resting gorgeously, all new and lovely were a pair of beautiful D.K.N.Y shoes.

It was a D.K.N.Y dream come true.

Fitness Shoe Review: Avon Workout Trainers

My friendly neighbourhood Avon lady dropped round my order this morning. I was excited, not just because I like getting goodies, but because I’d ordered the new Avon Workout Trainers and was keen to see what the fuss was about.

Avon describe them as –

“Everyday trainers designed for low impact on joints with increased comfort. Thermoplastic and polyurethane. Super grip flexible sole to provide traction on multiple surfaces. Helps encourage leg muscles to work harder. Designed to help improve overall balance and posture.”

What do I think about the Avon workout trainers?

I was a big fan of their fit-flop style flip flops but having recently had some back surgery I was excited to try these out. Plus the trainers were on offer at only £20, how could I resist?

Fitness Shoe Review: Avon Workout Trainers

My first impression of these Avon workout trainers was they were very pink. I’m not really a pink kinda girl but I’ll soldier on with these. I gave them a good look at all over and noted that the sole was slightly rounded, similar to MBTs but not quite as defined. This would be really great for my back and my posture as I’ve been hunched for months and need encouragement to stand up straight.

I popped them on and they were comfortable, they seem a good size and fit. Because of the rounded soles they took a little bit of getting used to; but after a couple of trips up and down the stairs and round the house it was time to road test them.

I didn’t walk far because I can’t walk far yet, but immediately I noticed my general posture was improved. I was standing and walking straighter and taller. I’m really weak after my surgery but I could feel a pull in my stomach and bum muscles. I know I’ll never look like Jessica Ennis, but I reckon if I wore these for a little while each day they’d help get me stronger quicker than regular trainers would.

I like these Avon workout trainers, I like them a lot. They are very pink, but I imagine Avon will eventually do them in another colour. They are called workout trainers but I wouldn’t wear them to the gym. There isn’t enough bounce in them to protect your joints properly; but they’d be great for pottering about in and doing all the things you do as a busy Mum. Plus for just £20 you can’t go far wrong.