Fury as shoe giant Clarks announces it's to cut 170 jobs

Staff have reacted with fury after shoe giant Clarks announced it was axing 170 jobs - just weeks before Christmas.
The redundancies follow changes to its business operations.The redundancies follow changes to its business operations.
The redundancies follow changes to its business operations.

The shoe retailer has confirmed 170 staff members have been made redundant from its offices around the world.

Just under half of these job cuts have been made at its headquarters in Street, Somerset.

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The redundancies follow changes to its business operations under a newly appointed CEO.

Affected workers say they were told the news on Friday (December 6) - just three weeks before Christmas.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said: "On Friday, people were being let go from the headquarters, and we are talking hundreds.

"People have been there for more than 30 years and it was quite brutal.

"There was a constant flow of people being told they were being made redundant on Friday.

"It was really quite bad on Friday. People were taken into rooms to be told weeks before Christmas and it is not what you would expect from a quaker company.

"This will have an impact on the Street."

A spokeswoman for the company confirmed 170 staff members will be made redundant and 80 of these people are based in Street.

In a statement, she said: "Clarks has introduced changes to its business operations in order to support its brand strategy under the leadership of recently appointed CEO, Giorgio Presca.

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"Today we have announced changes which affect the way our corporate teams across the world are structured which, regrettably, will result in approximately 170 colleagues leaving the business globally.

"We are committed to working with all those affected by this decision to support them throughout this transition.

"These changes do not impact our distribution centre operatives or stores."

The news follows a number of changes at the global business over 2019.

Giorgio Presca replaced Mike Shearwood as the new Chief Executive Officer at shoe retailer in March 2019.

Presca is responsible for all operational, financial and commercial aspects of the business and leads the Clarks strategy with the executive committee.

It was announced in November that its factory in Street would close, at a loss of dozens of jobs.

The firm, which opened the new "robot-assisted" technology factory in 2017, said it was because targets were not being met.

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Its shoe museum at its Street headquarters, which housed more than 1,500 artefacts dating from the Roman period to the modern day, closed in September.

Clarks confirmed plans to close its 'full price' store at Clarks Village while its outlet shop will receive a "major refit".

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