UK shoe industry dealt another blow

[02 April 2005]

Another blow was dealt to the UK shoe industry yesterday as Clarks closed one of its last two factories to concentrate on more imports from the Far East.

Seventy jobs will go at the factory near Ilminster, Somerset. The company, which has provided "sensible" footwear for almost 200 years, used to have 15 factories across the UK. All but one have now shut down.

Spokesman John Keery said the remaining factory at Millom, Cumbria, employed 37 people.

Most of Clarks' shoes are now made in China and Vietnam, which bosses say is essential if the firm is to keep up in a competitive market.

Mr Keery said: "The cost of manufacturing in the UK has increased over the last 20 years, and we have been able to source our shoes cheaper in the Far East."

The company, which employs about 13,900 people worldwide producing and selling almost 39 million pairs of shoes a year, had a global turnover of £943m for 2003-04.

It started in the Somerset village of Street in 1825 with Cyrus Clark tanning sheepskin rugs. The closure of the factory near Ilminster is the end of an era for Somerset's manufacturing link with the firm, though its headquarters remains in Street where a £50m distribution centre has been built recently.

Norwich's shoe-making industry has been all but wiped out in recent years. The Florida Group is the last major company to retain its manufacturing in the city - Van Dal shoes are produced at the firm's Dibden Road factory, which employs 100 people.

Florida closed its satellite factory at Gorleston last year, with the loss of about 55 jobs.

Start-rite Shoes completed a move to a £3m headquarters at Broadland Business Park in February last year, ending all shoe production in Norwich after more than two centuries. It has a workforce of about 100. Production is now in India, the Far East and Portugal.