Shoe store, Clarks, have announced plans to introduce gender-neutral school shoes.
Following on from last week’s announcement that John Lewis are introducing gender-neutral children’s clothes, Clarks is now promoting a ‘gender-neutral ethos’.
In a statement released on their website, the store said, “Clarks has a gender neutral ethos that anyone can choose any style they would like.”
“Over the past few seasons, following customer feedback and market research, we have focused on creating more unisex shoes and we are looking at a number of elements of our business to promote this gender neutral ethos, both on our website and within our stores.”
“As a large global company, it is not always possible to implement all the changes we want to make as quickly as we would like.”
“However, we are looking to move as fast as we can to ensure this ethos is reflected throughout our brand.”
“Today we have move unisex styles in our range than ever before.”
“This means we now have a wider range of closed-in styles, school boots and GORE-TEX® styles and these changes will continue in our Spring Summer 2018 range, which has been designed with an entirely unisex approach.”
Clarks have recently come under fire for the ‘everyday sexism’ over their line of girls’ school shoes.
The UK retailer faced criticism after stocking a line of girls’ school shoes called “Dolly Babe”, while the boys’ equivalent is called “Leader”.
Whilst the boys’ insoles are decorated with footballs, the girls’ feature a heart pattern.
Speaking at the time, Clarks told Harper’s Bazaar UK: “The Dolly Babe shoe is an old and discontinued line, with only remaining stock being sold through our stores.”
“However, following customer feedback regarding the name, we have removed the shoe from sale online and are in the process of removing the name from the remaining stock in store, though this process will take time to complete.”
