Background
Bobux now produce their school shoe range on the new Kid+ sole unit.
In this blog post we look at the new sole unit and how it differs from the older, i-walk sole unit.
The current Kid+ Bobux school shoes were developed in response to feedback from customers looking for a harder wearing school range with more choice of styles. They are on the new Kid+ sole unit which was designed to provide additional comfort and durability for all day use.
The collection has been through intensive wear testing in both New Zealand and the UK and has received excellent feedback on durability and leather quality. The durability of the leathers used have been wear tested in two external laboratories to confirm their longevity.
Barefoot Credentials
The new designs offer a great range of styles to suit all requirements. The sole unit is zero drop and reasonably flexible for the level of durability.
However in improving the durability we have found that some compromises have been made in barefoot credentials. Notably we have found them to be slightly thicker in the sole and slightly narrower in fit than the previous school shoes on the i-walk sole unit. They even seem narrower than the Active (White Play) Sole unit used on styles such as the Dimension Trainers and Knit Trainers.
Whilst the sole itself is zero drop and a reasonable thickness of 6mm the school shoes also include a very thick, Memory Foam, insole. This insole is another 6mm in thickness and also has some arch cushioning. Fortunately this insole is removable and we recommend removing and replacing with a thinner, flatter insole, to improve the barefoot feeling.
Bobux Specifications
Bobux provided us with the following specifications for their sole units. For ease we will use the term School Shoe to refer to the new school shoe Kid+ last, Active for the White Play sole used on the Dimension and Knit trainers and i-walk for the previous sole unit. The specifications are for the EU31.
School Shoes
- Length: 202 mm
- Ball grid: 190 mm
- Width: 70 mm
Older i-walk Sole Unit
- Length: 201mm
- Ball grid: 189mm
- Width: 71mm
Active Sole Unit
- Length: 209mm
- Ball grid: 185mm
- Width: 70mm
Bobux have told us that the reason the Active last is smaller in girth is that it does not have an inner sole. Bobux have also advised us that the school shoe sole has been specified to be 1mm wider and 1mm longer and 1mm bigger in girth than their standard last.
Happy Little Soles View
Despite the measurements provided looking relatively similar we have found significant differences between the new school range and the other options from Bobux.
The toe box definitely looks narrower in both shape and profile and on measuring the internal, usable, width and comparing to shoes of the same size we have definitely found that the new shoes are narrower internally.
In terms of specification we have measured both the internal width of the shoes and the thickness of the sole and compared this to the other two Bobux soles. We have been unable to reproduce the manufacturers width measurements. This doesn’t surprise us however as sole width and internal width are often different depending on how the upper is attached to the sole. Usable internal space will always vary from the actual width of the sole unit. Our measurements are taken using an internal width measurer.
We have given the measurements we have taken in the table below. In this table we compare the internal width and sole thickness of the new Bobux shoes with the previous Bobux range and also with a range of other school shoes that we stock by way of comparison.
Conclusion
Overall we decided to stock the Bobux school range as an option for narrower feet with the advice to replace the thick removable insole. The sole thickness is not unduly problematic provided the insole is removed and replaced with a thinner and flatter option like the Woly Cut to Fit options.
The sole is zero drop and nice and flexible which gives it advantages over the Pediped School Shoe range which is a similar fit on the width.
We would love to hear what you think if you are trying the new range. Please get in touch with your feedback.
