Its August so we all know what that means…school shopping! Our newly minted fashion expert Rashad Robinson gives us some tools for budget shopping for your kids so you wont break the bank trying to “keep up with the Joneses” and still be fresh to death.
With the new school year approaching the funding for mandatory supplies &/or uniforms are already adding dents to pockets. The one thing that you can benefit a small sale or “steal” from should be sneakers or school shoes as my parents would call them.
Let’s start with fit & comfort. The best time to shop for any school shoe would be after physical activity or at the end of a long day when the foot tends to swell & expand. Many new shoes will feel fine until that third day of recess or P.E. & the complaints of being “too small” will occur from your child. If there are no complaints you will see physical evidence of your problem when the shoes end up looking like your child just ran a 5k through barbed wire.
Require your child to try on both shoes at the same time. Some feet differ in inches & you should accommodate the larger foot when making your final purchase.
Now when it comes to purchasing school shoes. You must have patience, an open mind & some hype-beast humility (Google it). Everyone wants a “fresh to death” kid for the 1st few days of school. That’s awesome BUT you must understand every Jordan, Yeezy & KD will not be available for you, especially in store. If you have your “hook ups & plugs” cool, you are ahead of the game & my words may mean nothing to you. This is for the parents who are looking for a steal or a come up while maintaining the same dope styles & presence for school.
Purchasing online. There is one thing you do before anything else, check the websites for coupon codes or sale/clearance bins. Once you have that taken care of you filter your search by selecting size, width, & prices (lowest-highest). Only you & your child know the style of choice so as you scroll remember if you guys are looking for bright & bold colors, cool & conservative darker colors or just comfort alone. Know your child & know your budget. I personally add every appealing shoe to my shopping cart & then narrow down the best of the litter from that point until I find a price I’m sold on without letting out a “damn” once I hit checkout. I have found many gems on sites such as finishline.com, jimmyjazz.com, undefeated.com, shoebacca.com. All of your sneaker brands (Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance) have sites & clearance items that may only have two sizes left so prices can be from 30-50% off.
Purchasing in store is a lot easier due to seeing items with the naked eye while being able to try on shoes for fit & style on foot. Start your search with outlet shops such as Potomac Mills, Arundel Mills, Tanger Outlets, Leesburg Corner & do not sleep on Queenstown Outlets especially for sneakers. The thing to look for is the clearance rack, so many people return shoes to outlet stores instead of websites for a faster refund. This means many of the sold out or hard to find items will be sitting on the shelves waiting for you to grab at a lower price. The best time to find them are on Mondays & Tuesdays when weekend buyers change their mind & return shoes within days of purchasing.
If you don’t have the patience then this can seem like a headache. The MAJOR KEY is to do not fall for the hype of trying to have the best of everything as soon as it drops. It’s not always beneficial to you especially when kids will ruin the most dope pair of sneakers of all time & not give a damn about how you feel about it. We all know when Christmas time rolls around it will be another pair on the wish list & the process starts all over again. It’s time to get a bang for your buck & bang for your sanity this school year. Don’t get caught sleeping trying to stay woke for a shoe release date, and….
