Clarks to create 80 jobs in the UK with new Desert Boots investment
CLARKS is bringing volume shoe manufacturing back to Britain in a multi-million pound investment combining high-skilled jobs and cutting-edge technology.
Clarks will create 80 jobs in Somerset
The family business will create 80 technical and managerial jobs at Street in Somerset, with the new facility due to start next year.
It aims to produce up to 300,000 Desert Boots a year.
Clarks has always led the way in shoe design and manufacture having developed a significant proportion of modern shoe construction technologies
It plans to roll out similar units in the US, Europe and Asia.
Clarks stopped making in the UK in 2006.
It sells 500,000 pairs of Desert Boots a year, made in India and Vietnam.
Clarks stopped making in the UK in 2006
Chief executive Mike Shearwood said: "Clarks has always led the way in shoe design and manufacture having developed a significant proportion of modern shoe construction technologies.
"This new facility will help us continue that tradition of innovation.
The new facility is due to start next year
"We are delighted to be bringing shoe manufacturing back to the UK and creating a significant number of highly skilled jobs. Clarks is changing and as a global business we need to innovate and respond to the changing global economic order."
He added: "Clarks is thinking big and innovating to ensure we are fit for the future and at the forefront of shoemaking, whilst being able to adapt to an ever-changing world."