NEWS
If the shoe fits..... For the price of one pair of shoes you can Laura West Secretary
provide your business, and an experienced member of your staff, with national recognition. Despite many retail staff being extremely knowledgeable about their products, feet, and the ability to actually ‘fit’ shoes, they have nothing to prove they know what they are doing. Some may have spent a day with a manufacturer, but although extremely beneficial to their product knowledge, this does not provide them with an all-round sense of achievement or overall stamp of approval.
“Our industry should feel incredibly ashamed that the majority of people working in it have no recognised qualification appertaining to the shoes they sell,” says Laura West, Secretary of the Society of Shoe Fitters. “The one item of ‘clothing’ that can serious damage your health and alter your entire physiology is your footwear, but still the government neglects to insist on formal qualification – it is left to moral obligation rather than legal obligation.” The non-commercial not-for-profit Society of Shoe Fitters is addressing
this problem. For over 50 years they have supported the footwear industry and assisted the public. They work with the finest people in the industry and continue to do so with their training and support systems. Now they are approaching those that do know what they are doing and helping them to prove it.
New SSF £50 Entrance Application for experienced shoe sales assistants The SSF have introduced a new Entrance Application which should be
extremely straightforward for experienced shoe retail staff… and in addition they have also made it affordable to all, merely £50. If you or your colleagues would like to take part you can download the Application without
www.footweartoday.co.uk
obligation from the SSF website (
www.shoefitters-uk.org) and upon successful conclusion you will gain membership of this prestigious and reputable organisation (M.S.S.F.). If your shop needs something new to shout about and a U.S.P. to upstage your competition, look no further! This small investment in your staff will give both them and your business a much needed boost in these trying times – it should even be tax deductable!
Mainstream SSF course still a ‘must have’ for newcomers For those who are entering the shoe retail trade and primarily for unskilled staff, the SFF’s popular mainstream course is a ‘must have’. It teaches all you need to know to offer a professional shoe fitting service and leads to their recognised qualification via general assessment. It is extremely useful for staff training and to obtain the necessary knowledge about feet, footwear, construction, gauges, etc. The SSF’s mainstream offering is correspondence/distance learning
course. It includes two practical 'hands-on' workshop days - which you are expected to attend. You will be allocated a Personal Tutor who will assist you throughout and you may pursue the course over either 5 or 10 months (the content is identical for both). The 10 month course starts October 1st 2012; 5 month courses start September 1st 2012 and March 1st 2013. After moving to France in 2010, Karen Feltham, mum of three, quickly
noticed the lack of shoe shops that offered a fitting service, or the opportunity to buy shoes for children with width fittings. Having gained support from local mums, Karen decided to open a children’s shoe shop, Petits Pieds, in the pretty town of Eymet, in the Dordogne. She sought the advice of the Society of Shoe Fitters and immediately signed up for a 5 month course. Karen now offers a children’s foot measuring, shoe supply and fitting
service to mainly international families, however, the idea is now catching on with the French residents and her customer base is also growing in this area.
AUGUST 2012 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • 5
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