One of the tough areas for parents of young children is sorting out good animal-free footwear for them. You want the shoes to be healthy and fit well, but not to harm animals, and it can feel a tall order particularly when compounded by school requirements. But there are solutions out there. Here are some ideas. If you find more, please contact us so we can add them in.

Best places

Currently in the UK, the only specifically animal-free breathable shoes for small kids are by Green Shoes in Totnes (who also do leather shoes). They are made to your kid's food shape by mail order, starting at infant size 4. They are certainly expensive being hand made in the UK, though can be resoled and made bigger later.

For larger kids, Freerangers, a completely vegan company, do some smaller sizes such as women's size 2.5. They offer both an off-the-shelf ordering and a made to measure service if it is a hard to fit your foot shape normally.

For more off-the-shelf options which are definitely animal-free, take a look at the Vegan Store, as they often have ranges for small kids, and do revisit them as the stock changes regularly. They usually know which shoe designs are narrower or wider than average, so do ask.

Photo: Crocs The original Crocs shoes are animal-free in most designs and have high ethical standards. They are good for feet, most being highly ventilated and anti-bacterial as well as orthotic. There are so many designs these days that some are even ok as school shoes, such as the Alice design. Do watch out as a few models do have leather, though it is fairly obvious. Crocs even do specialised canvas toddler shoes for kids learning to walk! Everyone tells me that fake croc-style shoes are nothing in comparison, except the alternative split off from the same company, Holeys which are a bit cheaper but excellent quality. You can find many sellers of them on Ebay, and most of the Crocs range at on line stores like Kiddikingdom, Sploosh and Jellyegg!

Then try

High street shoe shops. particularly the cheap ones, have many non-leather shoes, sandals & trainers. We've recently been told that Clark's have even started doing a limited number of non-leather kids shoes at last. There's nearly always a potential fair trade issue (sweatshops, child labour, etc) with mainstream shoe shops (eg Nike and Gap), which you can ask about to help raise awareness of consumer demand for good ethical standards. You could also donate to one of the several charities that campaigns against child labour, such as Save the Children.

You can look for more ideas on vegan shoes in general on the Vegan Forum. We've also been told it can be amazing what you come up with when you type in "vegan shoes" on Ebay, so give it a go.

Making your choice

Leather, suede and fur are all pretty obvious and clearly labeled in shoes. Textile components are very likely to be animal-free, as wool use is unlikely unless obvious. A more hidden shoe component of concern is glue, as sometimes this can be of animal origin. We've heard the chances of animal glue being used even in cheap shoes is now much lower, but you usually can't find out for sure.

It's not a perfect world, so just do your best and know it's making a difference.

Thinking ahead

A key tip is always to be on the look out for good options for your kid next size up, as buying in a hurry can make it a lot harder to get what you want. Be sure to start to look for Summer shoes in the Spring and Winter boots in Autumn, as the right size can sell out later on. Not to mention the bizarre habit of most shoe shops not to sell wellies in Summer. However Woolworth's often have all types of shoes all year round, except snow boots.

Fitting shoes correctly

It's worth going into a good quality main stream shoe shop with your kid at least once a year to get their feet measured. Places like John Lewis, Clark's, and Start Rite shoe shops allow for foot width as well as length, and often have good canvas options in Summer, but are hopeless for non-leather winter shoes.

Once you know your kid's shoe size and whether it is wide or narrow, this will help you look out for suitable shoes and to buy on-line. Even shoes from cheap shops can fit well if you are careful to match them to the shape of your kid's foot. Be sure to ask about shoe width with mail order. Also, the more adjustable the shoe the more chance there is for it fitting correctly.

To check for a good fit, get them to walk around in the shoes, and also press round the shoe to see how the foot is fitting inside it. Take off the shoe and put it upside down against your kids foot (right sole against left foot) to see if the shape is complementary all the way round. If the shoes are really desirable then you'll have to do more of the comfort & fitting assessment, as your child might not want to tell you if they don't really fit!

Special types of shoes

School shoes

Getting hold of school shoes is a particular hurdle you start jumping by the time your kid is a rising 5.

You can try Green Shoes, mentioned above, if you plan in advance. However, the cheap high street shoe shops option is often the most realistic one for school shoes. Most of these shoes are not breathable, so the key thing is to buy good socks. Some have excellent trainer-like soles and simple velcro fastenings to help your kid fit their shoes well and put them on themselves. Some cheap-shop shoes have flashing lights which are very popular with kids and give them street cred! This donesn't seem to bother school heads, probably because of the safety of being seen angle.

Buy canvas shoes (more breathable) early in Spring/Summer, as the black/dark blue ones sell out the quickest. At most schools you can get away with a small design on them.

Boots

This is an area where there is a lot of good non-leather choice.

Boots are wonderful for young kids, as they can put them on and take them off themselves, and have a good muck about in the wet and dirt.

Wellies are great in Summer rain and streams, but snow boots can't be beaten the whole Winter long.

Snow boots are for puddles too

It doesn't have to be snowing for your kid to get painfully cold feet which will spoil their fun and have them whinging the whole way home. Non-leather kids snow boots can often be found in outdoor shops, department stores such as John Lewis and ski shops. You can buy snow boots mail order and on line. Go for ones which are waterproof at least up to ankle level and have a way of tightening them up (zip, laces, velcro, draw-cord, etc) to make them easier to take on and off.

Sometimes the Vegan Store, do good kids winter boots, so keep an eye out.

On-line shops that sell kids snow boots (you sometimes need to ring up to check which ones are leather-free) include:

• Snow & Rock
• Sno Gear near Reading & Henley
• Outdoor Megastore
• Kids Ski

Sports and dance shoes

Many Alternative Soles shoes are for sports and dance, so they are a good place to look.

Several of the vegan shoe companies above do sports shoes. You can also get canvas black PE pumps and non-leather trainers in most shoes shops, particularly the cheap high street shoe shops. However, if you want to be sure trainers are vegan, there's an on-line sports shoe shop that actually lists which of their shoes are vegan, and these include ones in children's sizes.

Wedding shoes

If your kid is going to be a bridesmaid, you'll find the wedding shops will do satin shoes often with synthetic soles. Some other shops like Monsoon do pretty shoes which are often ostensibly animal-free (though be sure to avoid silk uppers, as well as leather insoles).

For page boys, the school shoes ideas apply.

Good luck for successful shoe hunting!

Tell me if you have any other suggestions too or have found this page useful!