I have been advised by NCOs to get parade shoes but not to buy cheap ones are they don’t polish well. Where can I buy a pair in half sizes which are good quality? No surplus shops around me sadly 
If your parents can afford for you to have a pair of shoes for cadets, then buy what they can afford. Given that you are a new cadet and at your age your feet are still growing do not buy the expensive variety and ignore the NCOs. NCOs get a bit excited and think after a couple of year of being a cadet they are the font of all knowledge, they forget that just a little while ago, they were exactly the same as you. If you are still a cadet in a couple of years and think you’re going to stick around, when your feet have stopped growing as quickly, look for a more expensive pair.
As for buying from surplus shops, many offer Grade 1 which seem a bargain, but grade 1 varies from all but new to worn quite a bit and a number of our cadets have found, they go along only to find they haven’t got their size and are faced with buying the more expensive new ones. Surplus shops buy in bulk lots and don’t know what they will get size or condition. If you intend to go to a surplus shop phone beforehand and make sure they have your size, for anything and if not say no and don’t get sucked into the “we’ll have some soon, trap”.
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Also try eBay I got pair for £15 from one of the mil shops . Depending on your age and internet access get folks to do it for your safety
“Cheap” does not always equate to “bad”.
One can easily pay £40 for a pair of parade shoes… Don’t.
eBay is always worth a look. There are bargains to be found.
On the other hand, CadetsUK was always fairly competitively priced.
http://www.cadetsuk.com/contents/en-us/d231_parade_shoes_aircadets.html
Males shoes with free delivery for £22.99. Consider that my first pair of parade shoes cost me £10 in 1995; and that was from the factory outlet (seconds) where we all bought ours.
Buying shoes online unless you are absolutely sure of your size should be done with caution. Our daughters stopped buying shoes online and they know what their size is, as they had to send too many pairs back that didn’t fit properly.
Ring your parent station clothing stores.
Brand new Male cadets shoes are around £25 and delivered to your Sqn. Female shoes are a little more expensive.
One thing to remember is that once you have a pair and if they wear out or get too small, nip into stores whilst on camp with a packet of biscuits and chances are the nice store man will swap them for you.
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Assuming that they will sell to people who aren’t actually scaled for them in the first place. We hit that obstacle a couple of years back when we tried to buy some for cadets.
Surely if you were scaled for them, you wouldn’t be offering to pay money for them?
1358C states available for private purchase.
I’ve never had an issue purchasing shoes for cadets from stores.
I’m scaled for a couple of shirts. This allows me to buy more shirts, which I did to ensure I had a decent amount of the things for camps. I am also scaled for 1 pair of DMS shoes and could but a spare to make really nice for parades.
I cannot purchase MTP, boots, SD Hats, brown leather gloves etc. as I am not scaled for them, even though I am entitled to wear them.
Cadets are not scaled for DMS shoes. By the same rule, they cannot purchase them from service stores.
They are, just not necessarily available from your parent station’s stores.
you should be able to buy shoes from your parent station’s stores.
Private purchase means you have to buy them as they are not issued.
As I’ve said - I have tried that and been rejected, with proof from stores of the policy that prohibited it.
Do not pitch up at stores and expect to be able to buy stuff - call ahead first and check with them to see if they will sell what you need. They may not adhere to the rules, or the rules may have been changed (let me know if they have. I could do with a trustworthy source of shoes)
You can purchase brown leather gloves (Officer and WO only) unless you are a SNCO as you are to wear black ones which are issued. AP1350C para 0217
Where is your parent station?
Lousymouth
I have never had an issue buying shoes for cadets from stores in 25 years. As long as you are parented by them there shouldn’t be an issue.
If you feel that Lossie are being funny with you then it may be worth dropping OC Supply a call and ask him where it states that cadets are not able to buy shoes.
Your other option is to wait until you are due to go on camp and phone stores of the station you are visiting, explain your predicament and ask if they can help you out.
If they say no problem, then you know to take copious amounts of universal currency with you.
My understanding of the rules and what I was told by my previous parent station (Northolt) is that what Lossoe are saying is correct but that Northolt didn’t care and were happy to sell to cadets. (At least they used to be)
The reasoning as it’s been explained to me is that stores sell things at what is in effect a discounted price subsidised by HMG. If you aren’t scaled for something (so able to get one from stores for free, not just entitled to wear it), then you aren’t entitled to buy it subsidised by HMG either.
Still can’t find shoes that fit
I’m a really awkward size (half size) so it’s hard enough to find shoes. One of our new cadets got shoes similar to the CadetsUK ones and they are really bad and don’t polish well.
As I said there are no surplus shops anywhere near me so i’m stuck with online sadly. I have tried parade shoes on from stores so I have a rough idea of my size and I want to buy good shoes. Any other ideas for websites?
Ebay. Plenty on there.
True, however most 6.5 sizes are the larger width