Clarks shoes, brand new, rotting in their thousands - check your wardrobes now!

Doc_N

meer53 wrote: »

If i had a 6 year old pair of shoes and the soles disintegrated i'd think "oh, shame, i should have worn them more often"

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

Just out of curiosity, though, how would you feel about an unworn dinner suit or funeral coat, just kept for occasional use, if, when you went to use it, you found that the arms had fallen off, the stitching had all come undone, and it was just lying in an unusable pile of rotting fabric on the wardrobe floor? :think:

meer53

Doc_N wrote: »

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

Just out of curiosity, though, how would you feel about an unworn dinner suit or funeral coat, just kept for occasional use, if, when you went to use it, you found that the arms had fallen off, the stitching had all come undone, and it was just lying in an unusable pile of rotting fabric on the wardrobe floor? :think:

I'd think the same, nothing lasts forever, fabric deteriorates, some faster than others, depends how they're stored etc. You really can't expect to buy something and for it to last forever. Can't say i would ever buy a funeral coat ? I have clothes i wear for special occasions but tend to have an annual clear out, if i haven't worn anything for over 12 months it goes in the Charity bag.

LilElvis

meer53 wrote: »

If i had a 6 year old pair of shoes and the soles disintegrated i'd think "oh, shame, i should have worn them more often"

By complete coincidence I put on a pair of shoes on Friday that are seldom worn and by the middle of the afternoon they felt odd. Lifted the right foot, had a look at the bottom of my shoe and found that half the heel had crumbled away. They're probably 5 or 6 years old, worn maybe a dozen times maximum and cost over £150. What am I going to do about it? Take them to the cobblers and have new heels put on.

They're not Clarks ,Ecco or Hotter - they're Camper. Certainly hasn't affected the rest of the 20+ pairs I have of the same brand, some of which are a dozen years old at least. Certainly won't stop me from buying more.

7roland8

Doc_N wrote: »

I think 'should' is perfectly fair. Can you think of any other item of clothing that you'd think reasonable to self destruct after 6 years?

Think we agree here Dec- was talking to my sister about it last night - she'd not heard of the problem but said her husband's sandals crumbled to nothing the first time he wore then this year - she just threw them away thinking it was their age. But as said I have a winter funeral coat which I expect ot be fine when I need it - and not buy a new one every time. Its not like any of us wanted compensation - what we wanted was shoes that lasted as they should have.


Not a small problem as far as I can see and I for one will be looking at other brands in future.

Art_Deco

LilElvis wrote: »

By complete coincidence I put on a pair of shoes on Friday that are seldom worn and by the middle of the afternoon they felt odd. Lifted the right foot, had a look at the bottom of my shoe and found that half the heel had crumbled away. They're probably 5 or 6 years old, worn maybe a dozen times maximum and cost over £150. What am I going to do about it? Take them to the cobblers and have new heels put on.

They're not Clarks ,Ecco or Hotter - they're Camper. Certainly hasn't affected the rest of the 20+ pairs I have of the same brand, some of which are a dozen years old at least. Certainly won't stop me from buying more.

Seeing as this is a money saving site I wouldnt be happy at having to have a seldom worn pair of shoes re heeled when they were over £150 , 5 or 6 years is not old for shoes

Doc_N

Art_Deco wrote: »

Seeing as this is a money saving site I wouldnt be happy at having to have a seldom worn pair of shoes re heeled when they were over £150 , 5 or 6 years is not old for shoes

I'm afraid even re-heeling isn't a possibility when Clarks shoes fall apart after being left a while - it really is a matter of literally falling apart.

The composite sole and heel just crumbles and rots, leaving a nasty sticky mess wherever they've been left, or on the floor if you've managed to walk a few paces in them.

Any kind of repair is out of the question because the entire lower half of the shoe just ceases to exist, leaving just the unattached uppers - the video above shows what happens to them.

DoaM

meer53 wrote: »

You really can't expect to buy something and for it to last forever.

I got a pair of Loakes shoes for my wedding 28 years ago. (Cost £59 back then). This year I finally had to get them re-soled (and re-heeled), but the uppers, liners and insoles are all original and still in really good condition.

Damn these goods that won't last the test of time .....

Doc_N

DoaM wrote: »

I got a pair of Loakes shoes for my wedding 28 years ago. (Cost £59 back then). This year I finally had to get them re-soled (and re-heeled), but the uppers, liners and insoles are all original and still in really good condition.

Damn these goods that won't last the test of time .....

Exactly - and there are plenty of shoes in this house that are several years old and problem-free.

The throwaway culture does nobody any good (apart from companies like Clarks importing cheap junk and selling it at a high price because people are daft enough to trust the name) and I'm amazed that anybody at all is prepared to support Clarks over this.

Brand new shoes should not just disintegrate and fall apart if left unused in a wardrobe, any more than a plate, a shirt or any other item should. To suggest that it's normal for that to happen is ludicrous.

meer53

Doc_N wrote: »

Exactly - and there are plenty of shoes in this house that are several years old and problem-free.

The throwaway culture does nobody any good (apart from companies like Clarks importing cheap junk and selling it at a high price because people are daft enough to trust the name) and I'm amazed that anybody at all is prepared to support Clarks over this.

Brand new shoes should not just disintegrate and fall apart if left unused in a wardrobe, any more than a plate, a shirt or any other item should. To suggest that it's normal for that to happen is ludicrous.

I don't support Clarks, i think they sell overpriced mass produced shoes, i'm surprised anyone thinks they are any better than other shoe shops really. I just dont see the point in making an issue over stuff thats years old now.

Doc_N

meer53 wrote: »

I don't support Clarks, i think they sell overpriced mass produced shoes, i'm surprised anyone thinks they are any better than other shoe shops really. I just dont see the point in making an issue over stuff thats years old now.

I think perhaps if you and your wife had several pairs of new or barely used quite expensive shoes which had just rotted and fallen apart in a perfectly dry and normal environment, you might view it differently.

Expensive shoes should not self-destruct after a while, and if they do you'd expect a company like Clarks to look after customers it's happened to.

The fact that they haven't means that a lot of their ex-customers (check online) won't now touch them with a 50 foot bargepole.