WITH the announcement of the closure of the Springer factory there will be no more Clarks shoes made in Kendal but the firm will be buying in shoes from China, India, Vietnam, Romania, Portugal and even Brazil.

Clarks public relations manager John Keery, who has seen a number of the factories in India, China and Vietnam, was adamant that they were good workplaces: "The conditions are better than Clarks or K Shoes in the UK," he said.

"The reason I can say they are better conditions is because the factories have been recently built modern factories in the main - brand new factories and brand new machinery designed to do the job.

"They are spacious, airy, exceptionally clean and well maintained."

The conditions in Romania and Eastern Europe were more akin to those in the UK, he said.

None of these overseas factories were owned by Clarks, but rather the workers were making shoes for the British footwear giant and other customers.

Mr Keery said: "The main Western brands will often operate in the same factories, and the products they are making are designed specifically for each of those brands."

Mr Keery said the shoes made abroad would fulfil the company's reputation for quality, and Clarks would specify the materials used.

Tim Collins, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, said that Clarks' chief executive Peter Bolliger had confirmed that there was no future for any shoe manufacturing at all in the UK or even in Western Europe.

Instead, the company would be buying 40 per cent of its shoes from Asia; 30 per cent from Eastern Europe, from countries like Romania and the Ukraine; and the remaining 30 per cent from Brazil.

Mr Collins said: "After this decision in Kendal they have three remaining factories in the UK and he was pretty clear he did not think there was any long term or medium term future for them."

January 17, 2003 10:00