Category Archives: Soft Star Shoes

Soft Star Child Classics: Minimalist Shoes Kids Love

10/04/2016 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

Both the Spring and Fall seasons bring with them beautiful weather just beckoning you to get out and play. We’ve been getting our daughter outside to enjoy the beautiful weather every chance we get, and she always chooses her Soft Star Shoes Child Classics to cover her little feet.

Going barefoot would be the preferred choice, but since we live in a neighborhood with new construction (i.e. nails everywhere) and synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, shoes are a MUST!

Thankfully, we discovered Soft Star Shoes over a year ago when they graciously agreed to send some of their shoes to my daughter and me to review. I now have and love both the Soft Star RunAmoc Moc3’s and Soft Star DASH RunAmoc shoes, and Avery had the Soft Star Child Ramblers.

I still use my shoes every day for running, lifting, and casual wear, but apparently, kids do this thing called growing (way too fast!) to where her feet no longer fit those cute pink shoes. No worries, Soft Star happily agreed to send Avery a new pair of their Child Classics to keep her feet growing happy and healthy.

Avery immediately fell in love with her bright yellow Classics with a pink star. So much so that keeping still as I tried to get a picture of her wearing them for the first time was a lost cause.

A photo posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on Mar 11, 2016 at 6:32pm PST

The velcro straps make it easy to get the shoes on and off without a fuss, even when Avery does it herself. This is very important when we are eager to get out in the wonderful weather to play or ride her WOOM 1 Balance Bike!

We considered the adorable Soft Star sandals, but for our adventuresome tot, she needs the closed toes to keep all of the dirt and rock from finding their way in her feet. What’s great about the Classics is that they are still light enough for summer, but protective enough for cold weather too. As an added bonus, they double as brakes when riding her bike!

And out of the chutes, it’s a crazy #toddler riding her @woombikesusa #WOOM 1 #balancebike! Doing good with steering now! #bikes #learningtoride #growingup #proudparents

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on Mar 26, 2016 at 10:08am PDT

Good thing the flexible soles are durable enough to hold up to the task of braking on her bike and everything else a toddler full of energy manages to get into. The naturally water-resistant shoes have already held up to plenty of playtime abuse while giving her little toes room to move around and spread out as if she were barefoot.

I’ve noticed that since the Classics allow for natural foot movement, Avery’s tendency to trip over uneven (or sometimes completely flat) surfaces doesn’t happen as often compared to other shoes she wears. This makes them perfect workout shoes too!

A photo posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on Mar 14, 2016 at 3:51pm PDT

We love how all of Soft Star Shoes contain no toxic chemicals, dyes, or pollutants. Even better, every single one of them is handmade by “Elves” who put care into what they do best. The quality is apparent just by how long both mine and Avery’s shoes have held up over time. Coupled with Soft Star being one one of the most environmentally and socially sustainable companies, what’s not to love?

Soft Star Shoes Child Classics, minimal kids' shoe, kid's shoe, barefoot — Beats me, Dad, I love everything about them. Can we go outside now? I’m not smiling until we do!

Along with the already great selection of Child Classics or other kids and adult shoes, they have a Design Your Own feature that allows for complete customization. It’s fun to use, and perfect for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, a new grad, or, just because custom handmade shoes are awesome.

Great big THANK YOU to Soft Star Shoes for providing these wonderful Child Classics free of charge in exchange for my honest review. All words are my own and I was not compensated in any other way. Get yourself and your kids in a handmade pair of Soft Star Shoes and see why their minimal footwear will make your entire family’s feet happy and healthy!

Going Reviews, Soft Star Shoes

Soft Star Child Merry Jane: Classic Shoes They Can Use

08/01/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Mary Janes are classic shoes that originated in the early 1900’s from a character of the same name in a popular comic strip Buster Brown. Buster, and his little sister, Mary Jane, both wore the same shoe that became know as the Mary Jane with the help of an obviously successful ad campaign.

Typically made of leather with a strap that goes over the foot and is secured by a buckle, Mary Janes are often considered a formal/semi-formal shoe. In kid terms, this means uncomfortable and not meant for the playground. Determined to turn this classic style into a shoe that’s fun for kids and parents will adore, the elves at Soft Star Shoes created a more comfortable, versatile design of the Mary Janes.

Soft Star sent Avery a pair of their Child Merry Janes giving her the mission to test them out before their release on August 16th. As a seasoned Soft Star fanatic, she readily and happily accepted.

It’s always important to know what kind of tread you’re dealing with, and the Vibram rubber sole checked out for us.

Durability is essential for an active kid, as well as flexibility. Two qualities the Soft Star Merry Jane, like all of their shoes, has.

With a little help from Dad to get them on, I snuck a quick pic of her new test subjects before she could jump up in constant state of motion. You know, a toddler.

Avery kept seated long enough for a side shot of her new kicks.

Then it was time to begin the mission of putting the Merry Janes to the toddler test. After a little begging and playground persuasion, she agreed to 10 seconds of standing still for me to take a picture.

You’d think I would get better at taking her picture by now, but I completely cut off the top half of her body! No worries, the flexible elastic band connecting the buckle to the shoe and grippy Vibram rubber sole made for an easy transition from standing to squatting!

The Merry Janes passed the squat test, an extremely important test, without a hitch. They’re also perfect for practicing much needed balancing skills.

Next, we took them outside for a ~~spin~~ walk/run around the neighborhood to break them in. Alternating from a slow walk to a fast run, Avery had no issues with the shoes slipping off or weighing her down. She had zero complaints on our walk and said she loved her new “Yellow Soft Star rocket shoes!” Not by my request, she decided to test out their puddle jumping abilities.

We haven’t had much rain in Texas lately, but kids have a keen eye for puddles. The passed. But what about their performance ~~in the wild~~ on the playground, where kids can be found roaming free?

Avery quickly confirmed they perform well in a kids’ natural territory by running all over a local playground. It’s hard to get a detailed description from a toddler on how they feel, so I look for visual cues to get a good idea.

Soft Star calls their version of the classics “Merry” since they make feet happy, and judging by the look on Avery’s face, who can argue? Do kids even know how to fake smile?

The testing phase is never really over when it comes to kids and parenting, but the new Soft Star Shoes Merry Janes have quickly become a new favorite for our little girl. Having a buckle instead of just elastic or velcro takes a little longer, but it’s not as bad as I first expected. Avery is able to get the shoes on herself and then have Mommy or Daddy secure the buckle. That elastic band attaching the buckle makes the process much easier!

Parents will love seeing their kids in stylish shoes they’ll wear without putting up a fight, and kids will love cheerfully playing in their new shoes. Although they are geared mostly towards girls, Soft Star’s Custom Child Merry Jane gives you the option to make a good looking, functional shoe for any boy or girl.

Keep both eyes on the calendar for when August 16th rolls around to order your kid a new pair of Soft Star Child Merry Janes. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to keep up to date on all of their latest news too.

Soft Star Shoes provided their Child Merry Janes free of charge in exchange for my honest review. All words are my own and I was not compensated in any other way. Get yourself and your kids in a handmade pair of Soft Star Shoes and see why their minimal footwear will make your entire family’s feet happy and healthy!

Life, Parenting, Soft Star Shoes

The Only Treat in Her Halloween Basket

11/02/2015 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Last year might have been her first Halloween, but this year was more exciting for sure. We were able to use the same pumpkin costume as last year (no Elsa here!), but that’s where the similarities end.

Avery’s First in 2014

Avery’s Second in 2015

Good to see she’s growing! But maybe a little too fast, she’s already expressing herself a bit much.

Fine, Avery, you can pick your own costume next year, geez!

During the day on Halloween, we carved our first pumpkin as a family.

We tried to get Avery to stick her hand inside to help pull out the pumpkin guts, but all she wanted to do was stick her head in and sniff.

Not wanting to waste the insides, I spread the seeds on a baking sheet to roast them. Avery was happy to sit and observe.

I told her we were going to cook and eat the pumpkin’s guts. Although she didn’t look the slightest bit interested, she couldn’t stop eating them once out of the oven.

Due to my lack of tools, skills, and overall desire to get elaborate, we kept it simple with a traditional jack-o-lantern look. Kelley drew the lines and I completely jacked up the outline with my unsteady knife hand.

The end result was nothing mind-blowing, but hey, we did it together as a family and that’s what matters most.

We just enjoyed seeing how involved and interested Avery was with the whole process, and you could tell how excited she was about our carved gourd.

Maybe “excited” is not the right word, but she Iinterested, I swear! She really became interested as we prepared to go trick-or-treating, especially with all of the costumed big kids (parents too) out and about going door to door. Outside at the front of our house, she just stood in her pumpkin suit and stared as Elsa’s walked with Mummies, and The Hulk had apparently settled down and shrunk in size.

There was no carrying around like last year, this time she was ready to walk on her own.

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A post shared by RC Liley (@going_dad)

We have an almost half mile loop around our house that she walked most of on her own with only a few tiny trips. Those darn feet!

Avery still doesn’t know what candy is, she just calls out the color of the wrappers if she sees some, and we never expected for her to get anything on her trick-or-treating adventure, it was all for the experience. That said, one of our neighbor friends, Jason along with his wife Jennifer, had asked what she could have so they could have something to give her to put in her bucket, and I said she loves bananas. This simple, yet generous offer was extremely thoughtful and appreciated by Going Mom and myself.

He and his wife have two little girls, Natalie and Zoey, and I’ve mentioned how we’ve been over to jump on their trampoline and play a few times before. Their house was the only one we actually stopped at that night, and Avery happily (with a confused-about-her-surroundings look) accepted her banana treat to fill her Halloween basket.

Kelley and I were trying to chat for a minute, and in that minute, Avery was already trying to eat her treat without even peeling the thing. We stopped her after she already had her teeth sunk in the peel, and I took it away to “unwrap” the wrapper so she could have a bite. Bad move, that set off our impatient pumpkin.

Crap, meltdown! Luckily, the crisis was averted by her brown-spotted treat once it was in her belly.

Good thing I didn’t mistake that other, more round pumpkin next to her as my costumed daughter or she would’ve been outraged when I tried to feed it her banana.

Happy once more, we set off to complete the loop with Avery doing mostly good on foot. We ran into some friends all around her age and as we stopped to talk to their parents, they conversed amongst themselves as well.

On the right is Natalie, and the middle is another friend/neighbor, Emma. Not sure what they discussed, but none of them looked exactly happy with us.

Soon after, we completed the loop and thus, Avery’s first experience of trick-or-treating. I’m sure next year will be even more eventful and probably not as easy to get away with just a banana for her basket, but only time will tell.

Did you take your little ones out to trick-or-treat?

Any fun/exciting/hopefully not bad stories to share?