Shoes that fit adorable little feet

One of the ways www.friendlyrooster.com chooses its brand base is by looking at how healthy their shoes are for children's feet.  We have taken the time to educate ourselves on each brand's product lines to ensure that what we are selling are top notch, quality, and healthy products for your precious little ones.

Below are some footwear facts, taken from our friends at Pediped, that will help you be more informed when making footwear purchase decisions for your children:

• The critical development years happen from infancy and into the toddler years.
• The bones in a baby's foot are made of cartilage, the same flexible substance you find in your ears and nose.
• A shoe that is too rigid or too tight can change the shape of your child's foot.
• Around 70% of foot problems come from wearing the wrong footwear or ill-fitting shoes.
• A child's feet develop until he or she is about 18 years old.
• A child's feet grow in spurts and often require new shoes every 3 to 4 months.

BEST SHOES FOR INFANTS WHO ARE LEARNING TO WALK

Barefoot walking is best, but that also leads to its own set of potential hazards.  Therefore, the best shoes for this age are a soft sole shoe that is flexible and breathable.  This helps feet grow normally and to develop musculature, strength, and the grasping action of toes.  You also want to be sure that there is an adjustment factor on the shoe (stretching heel, Velcro closures, etc) to keep the foot secure in the shoe.  Tip Toey Joey, Pediped, Livie and Luca, and Me in Mind all have shoes that serve this function.

BEST SHOES FOR TODDLERS AND CHILDREN

You want to look for shoes with a rounded toe box that give plenty of room for toes to move.  The shoes should be made of breathable material, like leather or canvas.  Avoid man made materials, because they can cause odor or bacteria growth.  Soft leather or rubber soles are recommended, because they allow a child's gait and stride to develop naturally.

THINGS TO AVOID

• Do not buy shoes that need to be "broken in".  It means the shoes are either poor design or they are not properly fitted to your child's foot.
• Do not take "hand-me-down shoes".  Most shoes form to the foot, so wearing hand-me-downs that have already been "formed" can affect the shape of your child's foot.

The good news is that today we have a wide selection of shoes and brands that fill all of these needs, and they look good while doing it.  So keep all of this in mind, but have fun when choosing.  Baby and kids shoes are just too darn cute not to enjoy the shopping experience!

With shoes to match

We love shoes (did you have any doubt????).  So a fun pastime is to shop for outfits we love and pair them up with shoes you can find on http://www.friendlyrooster.com .  We found these great baby girl rompers, sets, and dresses on Zulily and put them together with our Tip Toey Joey shoes.  The result is absolutely divine!

Dress by Good Lad, Shoes are "Herby" by Tip Toey Joey

Romper by Hurley, Shoes are "Dolly" by Tip Toey Joey

Dress from Moo Boo's, Shoes are "Party" by Tip Toey Joey

Dress by Kushies, Shoes are "Liberty" by Tip Toey Joey

Fish romper by Haley and the Hound, Shoes are "Herby" by Tip Toey Joey

Celebrity offspring wearing our brands

We are a culture that is obsessed with our celebrities.  This is never more evident than when standing in line at Vons, Ralph's, Albertson's, Giant Eagle, Harris Teeter, PigglyWiggly...or whichever grocery store you frequent in your city of residence.  One of our favorite pastimes here at Friendly Rooster is to scour these celeb gossip mags to see what shoes (and accessories) their offspring are wearing....and patting ourselves on the backs when we find out that they are wearing the very brands that we carry at friendlyrooster.com!  Here are some that we've found...

Orion (Christopher Noth's son) hanging out in Me in Mind 

 Gable (Kevin Nealon's son) chillin in Neon Eaters

 Harlow (Nicole Richie's daughter)...are those Tip Toey Joey???

Haven (Jessica Alba's daughter) looking pretty in Pediped

Lou (Heidi Klum's daughter) sporting Pediped

Mason (Kourtney Kardashian's son) stylin in Native

James Wilke (Sarah Jessica Parker's son) wearing an Appaman tee (we carry the accessories)

First customer share

We are so excited to share the first picture submitted by a customer of their little one wearing our shoes!

Here is Miles.  He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.  He likes fresh milk, sudsy baths, Thomas the Train, and his mom's cupcakes (she owns her own cupcake business).  He is sporting Morgan and Milo "Avery" Velcro sneakers in khaki.  SO adorable!!!!

The rooster has hatched

Today was launch day!  We are very excited to have hit our date of February 29, 2012 without much of a hitch (Happy Leap Year everyone!).  There will be a learning curve, for sure.  We mean, how prepared can you REALLY be?  You can plan and prep and do your homework..but come game day, it's on!

So far we've had 2 sales.  This weekend we get in the Tip Toey Joey shoes AND our marketing campaign starts.  Lots of excitement still to be had!  Also, we get to finally pop open that bottle of champagne that has been waiting for the first sale to kick in...now THAT is something to look forward to!!!!

All we need is just a little patience...

The line is coming together beautifully.  The website is designed and being tweaked as this is being typed.  Product starts shipping in 2 weeks.  We are crawling out of our skin with anticipation and can't wait to see the end product.  It will be fun to see our customer base come to fruition.  It will be really interesting to see if the styles they buy are the same ones that are our favorites (probably not...we tend to have an obscure sense of style at times).

Tip Toey Joey just finalized the remaining outstanding styles.  And the good news with them is that it looks like we will have some extra inventory to use for promotional purposes.  We are so ecstatic to have this line!  Once customers know the product, they fall in love with it.  It's so soft and special and different from what else is offered in the children's shoe market.  Even the more classic styles still have a vibe all their own.  The best part is that we've seen the line for both spring and fall.  And since we'll be 6 months behind South America and Australia, we'll have the advantage to see what sold best in those markets.  It really is going to be great to re-introduce this product to the US market.

Welcome Back Tip Toey Joey!

Seven weeks until launch.  We are off to a quick trip to LA the week prior to launch to relax, visit with friends, and to visit our Cali vendors (to work on Fall...and yes, it is before we'll have a read on spring).  Hurry up and get here already!!!!

First Blog of the New Year

This year is going to be crazy good (or just crazy....but we're optimistic).  A great deal of the website was able to get underway in 2011.  Much of the legal end was done.  The foundation was set.  The product was picked.  And the agreements were made.  What's left?

Well, the best part...which is getting to see the website.  We saw the first real preview on New Year's Day, and it was everything we hoped for.  The colors we chose worked out great.  They are fun and vibrant, (but it doesn't look like the circus has come to town).  It's still sophisticated enough that mom's won't hate shopping the site, but it reads "kid-friendly".  The functionality of the site is more than we had hoped for (and way more than we know what to do with at this point).  The logo looks great.  The product is displayed nicely...yay us!

The rest of our to-do list would bore the living daylights out of you, so we won't be sharing that in detail (think:  more shipping details, purchasing boxes and tape dispensers, lots and lots of spreadsheet entry, and a bunch of follow up...which is not anyone's strength over here to be completely honest).  But it's all good and exciting.  Counting down...