Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try Plae

These are my favorite for the little kids. I put them in the same space as See Kai Run. Love them, but my kid has narrow feet, so they didn’t work beyond about 4 years old. Maybe they will for the wide-footed child.

At that age, my DD loved her New Balance sneakers, and they lasted just fine until she outgrew them. (Although we didn't really try any other brands...that's just what I started buying and they worked.) She's 9 now and it is ONLY Nike. MUST. BE. NIKE. Ha.

I hate shopping in person with the fire of a thousand suns and buy any and everything that I can online, but starting around your DD's age I did (and still do) try to buy my kids' shoes in person until I know there is a particular sneaker they like (and will then re-purchase the next size up if they want to stick with it). They really do all fit differently, some styles feel better than others even within the same brand, etc. It was worth it.

Anonymous wrote:Try Plae

These are my favorite for the little kids. I put them in the same space as See Kai Run. Love them, but my kid has narrow feet, so they didn’t work beyond about 4 years old. Maybe they will for the wide-footed child.

Anonymous wrote:We love merrell and they last.

Really?!? My kid blew through these in a month, like totally trashed them by just running around the playground. They are the same as all the others to me.

Anonymous wrote:I don't have too much brand experience but I have found that addidas has held up.better for us than Saucony or sketchers.

Me too. However, if my kid wanted Saucony or Sketchers, I’d buy them. My kid blows through shoes so quickly they are practically disposable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve found New Balance 990s hold up the best, but they are expensive. Other models within NB haven’t been as durable.

Do you find you can buy up a half size in these? I don't mind spending a bit more money if she can wear them for a year, but it means they need to have a little flexibility in terms of fit.

Yes! The heel cup is pretty deep that their foot is held in pretty secure in a half side up.

Anonymous wrote:What weird responses. I am looking for recommendations for shoes that people have bought and found to last as oppose to fall apart, and that their kids liked. My kid will wear whatever I buy, she doesn't know shoe brands. She's 6.

I'd rather buy online than spend an afternoon at a shoe store, especially since they may not carry the shoe or color we want in stock anyway.

Sheesh. If you don't have anything helpful to add, don't qsay anything at all. Go kick rocks, PPs.

I have found that if I buy them without her trying them on there is a 50/50 chance they will fit. It’s worth going to the store to get an accurate size initially.

New Balance

OP here and thank you for the helpful responses and also for letting me know I wasn't crazy to be confused by the initial angry response to this pretty benign advice thread! I hadn't heard of Plae before at all, so that was a great find, and am exploring other options. Will narrow down to a few and let DD pick. Thanks so much!

We either buy Plae, which last through everything
Or we buy 2 pairs from target. They aren’t as amazing as the Plae pair but we could buy 6 for the same price if we needed to and we just rotate them

New balance and tshkuhosi hold together alright in our house of rough on clothes boys. Stride rite and sketchers did not.

These posts are weird, OP!!

My DS is very hard on sneakers. New Balance have been the best for us, though it has been mixed with their different styles. They make wide and are reliable in sizing.

Not sure what’s up with the initial rude responses, but we’ve had good luck with Saucony and especially New Balance. Not so much with Under Armour, and Nike wasn’t great either.

I don’t think any anonymous poster will have cross tested shoes across a spectrum of many brands and know objectively which are best at durability. All you can do it read online reviews before you buy.

I don’t know if they still make them, but the Osh Kosh Bump Toe sneakers were the only ones that lasted for my boys all the way until they outgrew them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What weird responses. I am looking for recommendations for shoes that people have bought and found to last as oppose to fall apart, and that their kids liked. My kid will wear whatever I buy, she doesn't know shoe brands. She's 6.

I'd rather buy online than spend an afternoon at a shoe store, especially since they may not carry the shoe or color we want in stock anyway. Sheesh. If you don't have anything helpful to add, don't say anything at all. Go kick rocks, PPs.

Then you should have said the bolded, OP. The answer is "any big name brand". Nike, Adidas, New Balance, Fila, etc. Any of the basic sneaker brands are fine.

She specifically asked for recommendations for durable sneakers, so actually she did say that in the OP.