Type
Closure
Country
United Kingdom
Region
South West; Dorset and Somerset; Somerset
Location of affected unit(s)
Ilminster Barnstaple
Sector
Manufacturing
Manufacture Of Material For Textiles, Apparel, Leather And Related Products
Manufacture Of Leather And Related Products
15 - Manufacture of leather and related products

90 - 210 jobs
Number of planned job losses
Job loss
Announcement Date
7 January 2005
Employment effect (start)
Foreseen end date

Description

A further 90 workers at Clarks the shoe maker have been told they are to lose their jobs. The staff in Ilminster were told on Friday 7 January 2005 that the factory would close by early April 2005 because foreign imports mean it is no longer competitive. This follows a previous decision in 2004 to lose 107 jobs with the closure of its factory in Barnstaple, north Devon. The firm, which also laid off 13 people at its headquarters in Street, Somerset, has blamed lower wage costs of South Asia factories. Clarks, which once had 30 factories in the UK, has now closed all but two of them.


Sources

  • 8 January 2005: BBC News

Citation

Eurofound (2005), Clarks, Closure in United Kingdom, factsheet number 60993, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://restructuringeventsprod.azurewebsites.net/restructuring-events/detail/60993.