Footwear is the least forgiving thing you can import.

A t-shirt that runs slightly small still sells to somebody. A sandal running three millimetres short in an age band is a carton nobody will buy, because a shoe either fits or it does not.

Which makes specification and sampling matter more here than anywhere else in apparel.

Order by foot length, not by size number

Children’s shoe sizing is not standardised. The same printed number varies noticeably between factories, and between the European system and everything else.

The only reliable way to buy is to get the internal length of the shoe in millimetres for every size in the run, in writing, then measure a sample to confirm the factory’s numbers are real rather than aspirational.

Then map those lengths onto the sizes your market recognises.

And add growing room. Children’s feet grow fast and parents buy accordingly, which shifts demand toward the middle and upper bands relative to a foreign supplier’s default ratio.

EVA or closed-toe

Two products, two customers.

EVA sandals and slides are moulded from a single piece of light foam. Waterproof, washable, dry instantly, cheap. Ideal for the rainy season, for the house, and for young children who will destroy anything they are given. The weakness is that a very soft EVA compresses flat within months and the sole thins to nothing.

Closed-toe sports sandals have a covered toe box with straps. What parents buy for anywhere a child is running about, because a stubbed toe on an open sandal is the injury that ends that sandal’s career. Sturdier, better margin, sells for more.

Carry both. The EVA is your volume and your rainy-season line. The closed-toe is what a parent buys for school-adjacent wear.

Specifications that decide returns

Check	Why
Sole flexibility	Should bend at the ball of the foot, not in the middle. A sandal that folds in half anywhere is supporting nothing.
Grip pattern	Nigerian rain plus a polished floor is exactly where children fall. Ask about the outsole tread, not just how it looks.
Strap attachment	The commonest failure. Ask whether it is moulded through the sole or glued to it.
Glue quality	On any non-moulded construction the bond fails first in heat. Flex a sample hard and repeatedly, then look at the join.
Buckle or velcro	Velcro is easier for young children and loses grip over time. Buckles last longer and small children cannot manage them alone.

Our children’s sandals cover EVA and closed-toe sports styles for boys and girls, with sizes, colours and styles mixed freely across the order.

Sampling is not optional on footwear

Order samples across at least three sizes in the run rather than one.

What you are checking is whether the size progression is consistent, because a factory can get one size right and let the grading drift across the rest of the run without anybody noticing until the container arrives.

Measure the internal length of each. Flex them hard. Leave one in the sun for a day, because heat is what finds a weak adhesive faster than wear does.

All of that costs very little against a container of sandals that run half a size small.

Season and order building

Two spikes matter. Resumption drives the closed-toe and school-adjacent demand. The rainy season drives EVA.

Both need ordering months ahead, at roughly 20 to 30 days production plus 30 to 40 days shipping.

The minimum is 1,000 pieces across the whole order, with colours, sizes and styles mixed freely rather than per style. That is what lets you carry both constructions and a full size run in one consignment, alongside school backpacks, jeans and t-shirts for the same parent in the same fortnight.

On freight, footwear is bulky and awkward. Boxed shoes take far more container space than the same value in flat-packed clothing, so ask how the consignment ships and work out your cost per pair delivered rather than per carton.

Send the size range and the season

Which age bands, and whether you want EVA, closed-toe or both. We will get internal lengths in millimetres for every size in writing, sample across the run before the balance is paid, and give you the landed cost per pair in naira with every line itemised.

Ask on WhatsApp.