I currently spend more time in South East Asia as we are looking to expand our business there in the near future. What strikes me is the number of young children wearing Croc-like shoes as every day shoes. Surely, the hot weather and a cultural attraction for bright colours and playfulness play a role in this phenomenon, but I cannot help but wonder what these parents expect will happen to their children’s posture and backs in a few years time?

Having done some extensive research before we launched our brand and having spoken with podiatrists specialising in children’s feet, I was and stay convinced that a young child needs a shoe that fits properly and holds the foot well, especially around the ankle. It should also be preferably made from soft leather or canvass, at least for the parts in contact with the skin. Any natural material is healthier than a synthetic one.

Interestingly, one of the first articles questioning the safety of wearing Croc-like shoes was published in the Australia and not in Asia. You can download this article published in the Sun Herald on November 2, 2008.

Kids-in-Crocs Safety Concern (98 KB)

Are these parents irresponsible or just ill informed about the basic safety and health rules for their children’s feet? I still wonder…

A recent article in the French press confirmed our train of thought when we started our business and were deciding where to source our goods from. The article outlined “….The “made in China’ label has a long way to go before one can feel safe about the quality and authenticity of the product purchased…”.

On September 7, a big debate was launched again in France when a man got a third degree burn on his feet from wearing shoes made in China. A similar controversy happened a few months earlier with boots imported form China. What caused the trouble was an anti-humidity product, dimethyl fumarate, a substance forbidden in Europe, found in the shoes which somehow allegedly slipped quality control and ended up being sold in an Italian shoe shop. It was reported that the victim has now pressed legal action against the Chinese manufacturer of the brand, and is seeking support from the French government.

Whilst there are many reliable and ethical manufacturers in China, companies which do not respect international safety and quality standards not only jeopardise their consumer’s lives but taint the entire country with distrust and negative perception.

By contrast, the family-run business which manufactures our goods in Morocco seems at the antithesis of the Chinese big production plants. On rare occasions some items are slightly less than perfect and we get frustrated when we do quality controls because embroidery or a piece of sewing has gone out of line. But the passion of the people working there, their genuine sense of pride, their positive energy and goodwill make up for the little flaws that you get with a truly ‘hand-made’ product.

The fact they are willing to adjust their ancestral handcrafting to match the strict European Union safety rules shows that they truly understand what is at stake when manufacturing items for children.

In hindsight, it gives us the satisfaction of offering our customers a high quality and safe product, produced with love and passion.

When choosing a school shoe for your child, you have to make sure that the shoe fits the following criteria:

• It lets your child’s foot breath, i.e. is constructed from genuine leather, both outside and inside.
• Maintains and supports your child’s foot, i.e. has an arch support in the insole.
• Is water resistant and has a flexible yet gripping sole. Rubber is the most comfortable and resistant product.
• It feels comfortable and holds the foot well either through laces or hook and loop straps.
• It conforms to the school’s colour scheme of approved shoes.

When my gorgeous friend Willie told me that she was going to organise a baby shower for me, I was very excited. In France, the baby shower concept does not exist, so this was a new adventure before the term of my pregnancy.

I was really great to be able to invite all my friends to celebrate the arrival of my first child. Beyond the love, joy, laughs, yummy canapés and treats, the bubbles (yes, that day, we all indulged in some champagne), the icing on the cake was of course the awesome gifts that everyone brought. I was moved by my friends’ generosity and still use some of these great gifts three years later.

The timing of the baby shower was perfect as the amount of things needed for a first child was quite daunting. I barely knew what we really needed until I started doing some reading and talking to some friends: the list of items grew by the day.

Being a pragmatic person, I ended up putting together a list of my picks and favourites in a shop where the staff was friendly and helpful and where they had a great range of things.

My friends and family then ordered the items they wanted to give us directly from the shop. Some other friends, who thought making a contribution towards a pram was boring, chose that little extra sweet present that you do not really need but will cherish and find practical and cute in its own time. There were just so many thoughtful ideas and presents, it was overwhelming.

Since that amazing experience, I have been to many baby showers of friends of mine. I have now learnt how to give the perfect baby shower gift. I would always favour something that I could not do without for my own child, as well as something a bit different and stylish.

For me, the top picks are a beautiful baby blanket and/or a set of pure cotton bodysuits. You can never have enough of either.

The other gift that I found special and have since given out to friends many times is a baby amber necklace.

Most people would not think of giving that as a present until they read the fascinating story of amber and the amazing healing properties that it has, as well as how pretty it looks.

They then understand that it truly is a special gift and a keepsake for any newborn baby.

The art of finding great quality, affordable, long lasting school shoes for children is, according to our customers’ feed-back, a challenging task. Funnily enough, it is actually the pair of shoes that children will wear the most during their school years, so it is very important to make the right choice.

Parents often go for a lower priced option as a result of them thinking they will have to repurchase each semester. The truth is, choice is limited and most popular brands of school shoes offer very average quality shoes. They tend to use the poorest quality of leather which can still be legally called leather (mostly upper-crust pork hide) coated with a synthetic finish that gives it a “plasticky” feel.

The sole is usually thick, made from a black synthetic composite and glued to the upper part of the shoe. The overall design of most school shoes is therefore bulky and the synthetic materials often used prevent the children’s feet from breathing properly and do not allow for comfort that genuine soft leather and rubber provide.

This finding was a great a motivation for designing and manufacturing quality school shoes that conform to most Australian schools’ standards and offering amazing value at the same time. Our school shoes are made from 100% genuine soft leather enabling the feet to breathe and for the shoe to mould to the child’s foot. The development of a unique sole stitching technology (“stitch-down” shoe construction) ensures the shoes are flexible, waterproof and durable and the feet are supported by cushioned inner padding.

If you ever wondered how a high-quality leather shoe, including school shoes, is manufactured, we have described the 20-step journey of one of our leather shoes below.

The journey of a Comme les grands leather shoe

All Comme les grands shoes are handcrafted almost entirely by hand in a small manufacturing facility. Each shoe is the result of no less than twenty different handlings from start to finish.

1. Each Comme les grands shoe model is uniquely created and made into a prototype sample which gets “road-tested” and assessed for comfort, practicability, durability and aesthetics. Parents also give their feed-back on the different aspects of the shoe.
2. The shoes that pass the test and are chosen to fit in the collection are then designed on a paper sheet from different angles (up, side, profile etc…)
3. A sole and a last are chosen for each model.
4. A paper pattern is designed for each component of the upper shoe in each size.
5. Steel cutting dies are prepared accordingly.
6. Leather preparation: all soft leather pieces are manually inspected and polished in case of any irregularities or thinned with a special knife if they are overly thick.
7. All leather pieces for the insoles and upper shoes are being cut partly with a hydraulic press, partly manually.
8. All leather components of the upper and insole are prepped for stitching. They are sometimes sent to a special workshop if they require embroidery or any stitched decoration.
9. All leather parts are then stitched together as well as hoop and loop straps, eyelets or any other vital parts.
10. The shoe lasts are prepared on a conveyor belt. There is one for each model and size.
11. The upper of the shoe is set on to the lasts, followed by the insole and both are sewn together with special stitch-down sewing machines. This step is performed by a very experienced technician to ensure comfort and aesthetics of the shoe.
12. Another fine polishing is then performed with sand paper to buff out any irregularities in the leather.
13. The bottom of the sole is polished with a specific product to ensure a strong grip of the outsole.
14. The arch support foam in introduced under the insole.
15. The outsole is covered with glue and placed on a conveyor belt under strong heat.
16. The flexible rubber outsole is strongly glued to the bottom sole and is placed under a heavy press.
17. The shoe lasts and the shoes are then refrigerated because they endured much heat during the manufacturing process. This last step is essential to obtain a great quality product.
18. The shoes are taken off the last and inspected individually by a quality controller.
19. The shoes are labelled and tagged. The Comme les grands motif on the insole is manually applied.
20. The shoes are wrapped in paper before being delicately packed in the exclusive Comme les grands cotton travel pouch.

When my daughter was born, I was rapidly faced with the dilemma of how I wanted my baby to look fashion wise.  Did I choose ‘mini-fashionista‘ versus ’mainstream’ or  big $ brands versus the affordable?  After all, I am French and with that comes an expectation to be well dressed and elegant at all times. I assumed it applied to my baby too.

So there I was, trying to find ’elegant’ pieces of garment for my newborn baby in Sydney. Well, most department stores are visually split into colours, baby pink and baby blue with the odd yellow and green items for those who choose to discover their baby’s gender at birth.  Combined with the usual busy patterns of fairies, bunnies and butterflies, there just was not anything that really inspired me.  

My preferences for clothing are simple whites, neutral and  classic colours.  I also like it when children are dressed similarly.  With this in mind, I tried my luck in more exclusive boutiques who had some beautiful pieces that suited my taste but very few that suited how I wanted to spend my baby bonus.  It is so annoying for me to see that Petit Bateau selling for 2 to 3 times the price of what it retails for in France.  In fact, in France, it is one of those iconic family brands we all grew up with and that sells pack of 3 pairs of bodysuits in French supermarkets.  So I simply could not resolve myself to pay over $39 for a cotton bodysuit, as cute as they might look.  My next thought was to think of when my next visit to France was planned for?

I quickly realised, I could either find things I liked but would pay an absolute fortune for or dress my baby in her standard supermarket-purchased bodysuit.  BTW the same concept, I realised later, applied to shoes.

A year later, I launched Comme les grands.

Since launching, we have received so many positive emails letting me know that I was obviously not the only one who was frustrated by the choices out there.  We have also been developing a second collection which caters for children from 1 to 7 so that your children  and Comme les grands can grow together.  This will be available in the coming few months so that you no longer have to compromise quality and style for value.