Source: courant.com

By WENDY DONAHUE

Chicago Tribune

June 30, 2007

No one stuffs a baby’s pudgy piggies into stiletto pumps.

But the thought probably has crossed designers’ minds.

A baby-shoe boom has sent the classic white leather booties toddling into the bronzed sunset. Wiggling into their place are skater-boy Vans, trendy metallic Umi sandals and music-mogul gold sneakers from Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. brand.

Even Italian icons such as Roberto Cavalli ($169 a pair) and Giorgio Armani are playing footsie - at sugar-daddy prices.

Can mini-Manolos be far behind?

“The market has grown considerably and I think a lot of it has to do with the celebrity baby boom,” said Erin Clack, children’s market editor for the trade publication Footwear News. “It’s become a bigger thing to use your child as an accessory almost.”

If your infant is being tailed by the papoose-arazzi and popping up in Us Weekly magazine, it might make sense to pay $150-plus for designer sandals that little Suri or Shiloh can scuff for two months and then explode out of.

Mercifully, lower-priced alternatives have emerged too.

The most successful shoe introductions have answered the call for flexible soles and a wide toe box. That prescription for crawlers and first walkers echoes from the latest editions of every child-care book.

In the two years since parents Angela and Brian Edgeworth created Pedipeds, based in Henderson, Nev., the softly structured Velcro slip-ons have infiltrated 1,700 stores. In March, Pedipeds earned the American Podiatric Medical Association seal of acceptance.

At about $29 a pair (pedipeds.com), they’re also cute enough for Hollywood heirs and heiresses - children of Brangelina, Julia Roberts, Denise Richards and Jon Stewart.

The boom, however, is laced with a bit of irony. Just about every reputable retailer and shoemaker, not to mention podiatrist and pediatrician, will tell you that barefoot is best for baby, even as he or she starts walking.

Bare Is Best

Mom and Dad shouldn’t rush to shoe their beginning biped. If they go to reputable retailers, “barefoot is best” will become sort of a sequel to the “breast is best” refrain.

That’s because the foot and its muscles develop through the preteen years. They do it best without restrictions, says Westmont podiatrist Marlene Reid, a spokeswoman for the American Podiatric Medical Association. Toes and soles also need a free range of motion for a baby to learn how to grip and balance.

Still, tender feet sometimes need a shield outside the home.

“People don’t think of the things that fall on the floor,” said Steve Wilkos, Nordstrom’s national retail director for kids shoes. “Protection is the piece people don’t think of enough.”

The old belief in hard leather soles and rigid ankle support, however, has gotten the boot. These days, newborns and crawlers might start in soft-leather slip-ons, such as the ubiquitous Robeez (pronounced ROB-eez, not ROBE-eez).

Babies who are crawling and cruising (walking along furniture) could graduate to slightly more structured shoes such as Pedipeds.

When tots move to sturdier rubber-soled shoes, the soles should remain flexible, as in sandals and slip-ons by Stride Rite and Umi.

“I’ll sometimes see 2-year-olds in sandals that don’t bend, and they have to lift their whole leg up to get the foot off the ground,” Reid said. “If their foot can’t bend, they’re going to be prone to injury. I sometimes actually stop moms in the park and tell them.”

Many parents believe a child should be walking by 12 months and think the right shoes might help. But the average is between 12 and 15 months. And as a mother of two, Reid adds that it’s not a milestone to hurry.

You’ll be doing enough of that after it’s reached.

Before You Buy Baby’s First Shoes

Start with a professional fitting. “That’s really crucial,” Wilkos said.

Nordstrom’s salespeople go through a certification program for fitting children’s shoes. They measure length from heel to toe and from heel to ball of foot as well as width. The fitter also looks at the girth - a higher instep may call for going up a size from what the vertical measurement indicates.

Other considerations:

Flexibility: “It should be flexible but not to the point where you can totally twist the shoe,” podiatrist Reid said. “If you flex the toe of the shoe upward, the bend should be at the ball of the foot, not in the middle of shoe.”

Length: A too-long shoe is just as bad as a too-short shoe. The ideal is about a thumb’s width or three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch between the longest toe and the tip of the shoe, Reid said. The child should be able to wiggle the toes.

Width: Many companies that primarily make adult footwear do not properly reconfigure their silhouette for a baby’s broader, squarer foot. That’s one of the advantages of going with a children’s specialty company such as Stride Rite, which offers various widths.

Soles: Robeez aren’t meant for wearing outdoors where glass or other road hazards might be encountered. The jury’s out on whether arch support is necessary for babies.

Soft, breathable uppers: Baby’s first shoes should have an enclosed toe to avoid stubbing, Reid said. But they should breathe for a baby’s foot, which sweats more than an adult’s. Beware of shoes with plastic or synthetic interiors.

Straps that don’t rub or bind: Check the foot for irritation. Velcro straps allow adjustments. But an enterprising child also learns how Velcro works. (Reid recently found a Pediped, probably cast overboard from a stroller, on a Lakeview sidewalk.)

Maintenance checks: Uneven wear on the soles can indicate flat-footedness. Tripping in shoes can indicate intoeing. A podiatrist can treat both problems easily if they’re diagnosed early.

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

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