Stride Rite SRT Shoes; Review

I've never paid a lot of money for my kids' shoes. I may have even written about how absurd I thought it was to spend a pile of cash on special shoes for babies learning to walk. My two oldest kids learned to walk in good old generic shoes and they don't have any defects or anything. They don't walk on their knuckles or drag a leg behind. The cheap no-name shoes did the job, far as I can tell.

So to say I was skeptical when Stride Rite came a knockin is pretty accurate. They sent me a ton of research supporting their new SRT line, and offered to send a pair of shoes for me to check out. I may have healthy skepticism, but I also have an open mind. I looked forward to getting my hands on these fancy schmancy shoes and seeing what the fuss is all about. They sent Mister Aiden the SRT Reagan shoe, seen below.Cute, huh? As soon as I opened the box I was impressed by the quality of these shoes. I expected that though, since you typically get what you pay for. The workmanship is really impressive and I think they'd hold up quite well.

So what's with the SRT line? SRT stands for Sensory Response Technology. According to Stride Rite, the SRT design "improves the way a child learns to walk via a sensory feedback system, an ultra-flexible design that allows for more freedom of movement, and a unique construction that reduces the number of stumbles and falls.". Since Aiden has been walking for...oh...about two years now, I can't really speak to these features. I think it's pretty cool technology, though. Here's what the bottom of the shoe looks like:

The yellow dots are Sensory Touchpoints. They move independently, to help your child navigate uneven surfaces. The beige area in the middle mirrors the child's foot structure for extra support. Pretty nifty, no? So, at this point, Stride Rite had me pretty interested. They got my attention. But then it got better....

The tongue of the shoe has extra velcro tabs to hold the main velcro tabs. I LOVE that! I have never seen that in a shoe before, and I think it's quite a smart feature.
But my favorite feature? The reason I would drop $50 on these shoes for the rest of my children's little-kid-shoe years? Behold...the Stride Rite convertible (my term, not theirs)....
Oh yea baby. The top lifts up on that bad boy! Take another look....
Moms, I know you feel me. I know you know where I'm going with this. No more shoving of the foot. No more pounding on the bottom of the shoe with your hand. No more wondering if the toes are flat or squished up inside the shoe. My friends, you just pop the top and slide the foot right on in there. My toddler even did it HIMSELF. *thud*

So to recap. Stride Rite SRT has some fancy schmancy technology behind it, and lots and lots of research. That's cool. Am I sold? Nah. My older kids learned to walk without it, and suffered no damage. BUT the quality of the shoe? The extra special features? Those got me. Those sucked me in. Call me shallow, but a shoe company that makes my job as shoe putter-onner easier? I big pink puffy heart that.

Stride Rite SRT are available online. The SRT Reagan shoes were given to us in order to do this review.