FAQs
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Got a question about BGreater’s shoes, barefoot shoe wearing, our delivery and returns process or anything else? Take a look at our FAQs. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, drop us a line via our live chat function or email customerservices@bgreatershoes.com
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Our barefoot shoes
Why should my child wear barefoot shoes?
Our bodies’ natural state is to be barefoot, and ‘normal’ shoes can constrict our foot growth and development. Barefoot shoes allow your child’s feet to be as close to their natural state as possible while providing protection, so they can develop healthily.
You can find out more on our Why barefoot? page.
How easy is it to transition to barefoot shoes?
When you’re at home, how often are your children wearing shoes? Chances are if they don’t wear shoes in the home, or if they don’t bother wearing shoes in the garden, they’re spending a lot of time barefoot anyway!
Wearing barefoot shoes is definitely a different experience to wearing ‘normal’ shoes, so it can take a little bit of time for your children to get used to it. If your child is not used to barefoot shoes we’d suggest to build them up over time rather so their feet can get used to the new style of footwear and they can get used to the amount of feedback you can now get from the ground. If they get pain or problems at any point speak to a medical perfectional However, once they adapt to barefoot shoes, they’ll be much more confident, with stronger and healthier feet!
Why are your shoes so much cheaper than your competitors’ shoes?
Selling direct to customers online means we’ve reduced costs by getting rid of the middleman and the need for a store front. We’re keeping product quality and customer service high while bringing down the cost of barefoot shoes. As parents, we’re trying to help other parents look after their kids’ feet – we don’t feel this should come at a premium!
Why don’t you ever have sales?
We’re trying to passing on the best value for money to our customers, this means our margins are quite lean. Simply put, we don’t have enough wiggle room for sales. Our shoes are already considerably cheaper than our closest competitors and we feel they are great value for money.
As your soles are significantly thinner than ‘normal shoes’, won’t they wear out a lot faster?
It’s not about how thick the sole is, but rather thickness of the tread – just like car tyres! The tread on our soles is a similar thickness to ‘normal’ shoes, so under normal conditions, they will wear in a similar timescale if they are made of similar material.
Fitting
How do I know what size my child needs?
Our foot measurer will tell you exactly what size your child needs, so if you’re unsure, we’d recommend buying our foot measurer first. To help parents extend the foot measurer’s useful lifespan and to make sure that children have shoes which fit we have also added centimetres to our foot measurer so you can use it to purchase shoes from brands by using their conversion tables.
Can orthotics be worn in BGreater shoes?
Children with disabilities and splints have worn our shoes, and both the children and physios found that the shoes were better fitting than ‘normal’ shoes. As our soles are more flexible, they were able to form better to the splints.
Do your shoes come in multiple widths?
At the moment, BGreater shoes only come in one width, but we find that this width works well for the majority of children. We are looking at launching shoes in other widths – sign up to our newsletter and we’ll keep you informed of all our new products and ranges as we grow.
Do you offer half sizes?
This is something we’d love to do in future, but we don’t currently offer half sizes. Sign up to our newsletter and you’ll find out first about all the latest product updates.
Why is the size range so small?
As we’re a new start-up, we’re launching with a stripped-back range to gauge interest and test the market. More sizes will be coming soon – sign up to our newsletter and receive the latest updates.
Delivery and returns
How do I return a pair of shoes?
If a pair of shoes can be returned under our returns policy then please follow this link . This will take you to the Royal Mail returns portal.
My product is faulty – what do I do?
If your product is faulty, please email customerservices@bgreatershoes.com. As a small family run business we do ask for the opportunity to resolve any unlikely problems with may arise. We may ask for photos or for the product to be returned before we can provide a refund or exchange.
Where is my order?
All of our orders are usually delivered within 4–5 days, but if you haven’t received your order in this timeframe, please email customerservices@bgreatershoes.com. Please note that Royal Mail advise that items cannot be considered lost or delayed until 10 working days after dispatch.
How do I cancel my order?
Please email customerservices@bgreatershoes.com or call 01242 461 673 as soon as possible – however, if the shoes have been dispatched, we cannot cancel your order.
I’m not based in the UK – can I order your shoes?
Yes you can. We ship to most countries. If you are not able to checkout when you enter your address, please contact us.
Please be aware we do not offer free returns from outside of the UK and you may be subject to customs fees, tariffs and taxes.
If you are from outside of the UK or US please email customerservices@bgreatershoes.com stating the shoes you'd like.
We will then email an invoice.
What is your returns policy?
Return your shoes within 30 days of receiving them for a full refund.
Returns are £1.99 for the 1st pair and £1 for each pair thereafter is the same return package.
Please click here to read our full returns policy.
Our environmental/charity pledges
Are your products sustainable?
Sustainability and affordability unfortunately don’t always work well together. Our priority to make foot health available to all, which means it needs to be affordable. We don’t want to be one of the many ‘green washing’ companies, we want to be honest. While we do endeavour to use recycled materials within our shoes, we wouldn’t want to say that our shoes are 100% sustainable.
We can retread our shoes with worn out or well worn soles when they have been finished with, as long as the uppers have been well looked after and in reasonable condition. These are then retreaded and donated to a children’s charity, giving your well-loved shoes a second life. This will increase the life cycle of our shoes as it will hopefully reduce our current ‘throwaway’ culture.
If my shoes wear out, can I send them back to be retreaded?
No – we only currently do this for shoes that are being donated to charity. However, if you’d like to donate your old BGreater shoes, please get in touch.
Other than returning my shoes, is there anything else I can do to help the foot health of kids below the breadline?
When you check out, you can add a donation to your purchase, which will allow us to donate shoes to Sal’s Shoes. When the total cost value of a pair of our shoes is donated into our ring fenced pot, we’ll then send a pair to Sal’s Shoes.
If you would like to make a larger donation than what is available at checkout please email customerservices@bgreatershoes.com and together, we can help more children.
How do I know that you are actually donating the equivalent amount of shoes?
As we have partnered with Sal’s Shoes, they are able to check our accounting of the donated money and the process of donating shoes to make sure that they are happy and everything is above-board.
Why do customers have to make the donation to Sal’s rather than BGreater?
If BGreater was to make the donation, this would mean the price of our shoes would have to go up, which would then reduce the accessibility of our shoes to children. Instead, we are asking for customers who can afford it and are willing to make a small donation so all together as a group we can help children in need.
What about the carbon foot print of shipping shoes manufactured in China?
Currently, to ensure our shoes remain affordable, our shoes need to be manufactured in China. We plan to sign up to a carbon offset system where we’ll pay for trees to be planted in future.
Other questions
Do you do affiliate marketing?
Unfortunately, as a rule we don’t take part in affiliate marketing. We want to try our best to be honest with our customers, and having reviews from sources who have a direct financial incentive to post doesn’t feel right to us.
If you do really like our product, and would like to help us on our mission, we’d love the support. We can provide affiliate links which when used donate the commission to our charity initiative so we can help provide disadvantaged children with the right footwear.