Seems like most people here (even on ADISC, I mean) aren't really too crazy about T strap shoes or Mary Janes, or really into that style, apparently.
Well, I guess it's a sign of the times... Things and times, they are a changing. Which sounds like a mix between a Petula Clark song and Bob Dylan.
But no, seriously, even in my area of the United States, which tends to be more casual, there are hardly any actual little girls, let alone little boys, wearing T strap shoes or Mary Janes. It's been 17 years since I've seen any kids actually wearing a strap shoe with a buckle, believe it or not. At least in my area. I know several children's shoe stores and virtually no one sells those kinds of shoes in my region anymore. Some children's shoe stores did before 2004, but that was 20 years ago. Amazing to see how fast 20 years went by. A lot of shoe companies even making those for those who are chronologically
children are no longer in business, even. There are only 3 companies in the USA still making those kinds of shoes and there was easily about 20 of them about 20-25 years ago.
One of the 3 companies that do make them (Footmates) is making their English Sandals (double buckle T strap shoes) in Vietnam now and have been making them in Asia since 2004. T strap shoes are no longer common - except in some parts of the Deep South, like Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, where not only little girls, but some little boys wear them (along with long-alls, jon jons, bubbles, etc) mostly to church on Sundays and some do wear them to daycare. Most of the shoes have been by Footmates, but there are quite a few children too who have gotten T strap shoes from Spanish children's shoe companies as well. The Spanish children's shoes are some of the best, some are sold in some children's clothing boutiques and shoe stores in the Deep South, and also they are found in shoe stores in New Jersey as well, mostly for children to wear to Jewish synagogue services in that part of the country. Very high quality for sure. A few moms even order them directly from Spanish shoe companies that sell online. Here in the Western part of the United States, most children never dress up for anything. They don't even dress up to go to church - that is, if they go to church at all, as a lot of atheists are out here. Mostly all I ever see are sneakers or Crocs. Long-alls are virtually unheard of here, and even overalls (not dressy like long-alls; casual, more like Oshkosh B'Gosh) are actually quite rare amongst even young children. Like I said, I guess it's a sign of the times. The fact I like Petula Clark probably shows that I'm getting old too, LOL.
Maybe I'm just getting old (I'm in my mid late 40s). My memories of childhood growing up in the 1980s - not just what shoes children wore or clothes, but also toys, stuffed animals, music, customs, and things like even record players - are not the same memories of childhood that someone born around 2000 would have. Unfortunately, I'm probably getting to be an old fart at this point. I feel like I may be becoming elderly - and that is actually somewhat frightening. I don't look my age at all though, I look like I'm more like 22 years old on the outside. But that doesn't mean that I'm in good health, necessarily, on the inside.
It's interesting how even on the internet (like on websites like wikiHow) if you look for ideas of how to dress like a child for Halloween, generally it says that depends what you are talking about. There are two ways to dress like a child, in a more traditional way, like a 1980s child with overalls or Mary Janes and a baseball cap with a whirly gig on top; or like a modern day "hip" kid, you know, like with T shirts, cargo pants or trackpants or sweatpants, and sneakers or Teva sandals or Crocs.
I have two nephews who are 6 and 10 years old, and they wear primarily Crocs (and they never wore a longall, ever). I guess I probably do stand out when I wear long-alls, even at the county park. I was an assistant volunteer / co-host at Preschooler Storytime, at my library, for 16 years and I never saw any children wearing anything like what I wear. I probably worked with tens of thousands of children and I never saw anything like that (and all these kids were 3 year olds and 4 year olds, with a small amount of 5 year olds). I take that back - I did see a child wearing a "longall", one time, but the child was literally a baby around 11 months old, he wasn't wearing shoes yet (or even really
walking yet, for that matter) and his mom told me it was one of her brother's outfits from when her brother was a toddler in the 1980s. The extremely very few children I have heard of that dressed in long-alls in my area were transplants from the Deep South. It is no mistake to say that I was the most well dressed child at Preschooler Storytime during Halloween in the year before that damned COVID 19 started. Out of all the kids, including the ones who were not even part of Preschooler Storytime, I was definitely the most well dressed / dressed up kid for sure.
I guess it's fair to say that I am just old fashioned and traditional and that I am becoming an old fart.
LOL.
- longallsboy