During the first year of research of the European Design4children project, some of the results that were related to the choice of footwear for children - They tell us how parents seek to meet the needs of their children without sacrificing aesthetics.
Other aspects such as the fact that shoes, sports shoes or moccasins are easy to put on and clean are also valued. What do you look for when buying shoes for your children? The study of which I speak has focused on Internet forums where parents gave their opinions about children's products. It has revealed valuable information for this research in which the Spanish Association of Products for Children and the Institute of Biomechanics work.
In the image you will see below, you can see how it seems that parents We value the different issues depending on the type of footwear to acquire. For example, in school shoes, we look more at aesthetics, while comfort is fundamental, especially for sports.
In terms of quality and duration, the dancers are the type of footwear for which this option is most valued, and finally when we buy moccasins we try to make them easy to put on and clean.
Its analysis shows that aesthetics together with biomechanics and comfort play a decisive role when buying footwear. In addition, the aesthetics must also please children because in this way they will want to put it on frequently, an aspect to take into account in the case of everyday footwear such as school shoes. Among the aspects related to biomechanics and comfort, parents look for products that adapt well to the child's feet and with closure systems that vary according to their age and autonomy (between 0-2 years, easy to put on for parents but complicated for children; from 3 years, easy to put on for the child). The price, on the other hand, is the aspect in which parents least pay attention when choosing their children's footwear, assuming that good footwear is not cheap.
The Design4Children project is funded by the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission and is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (of the Government of the Valencian Community) through IMPIVA.
