...to expect brand new Clarks shoes not to disintegrate if just left in the wardrobe?

[doce]

This little video ( ) shows 13 pairs of brand new or little used Clarks shoes after they'd been in the wardrobe for a while, unworn - an incredible scene of unaided, rotting, disintegrating shoes.

Worse still, Clarks across the world are washing their hands of the problem, offering trifling amounts of compensation (just a few pounds) if they're really pushed, and hoping people will forget about the problem.

Clarks are cheaply made imported shoes (UK manufacturing ceased long ago) sold at high prices to people who trust the name - in reality you can't trust the name (or the shoes) at all, because in the event of a problem like this they just don't want to know.

Check your cupboards and wardrobes (and your partner's) - those nice new shoes you put away for later are probably rotting in their box!

In over 20 years of shoe buying from clarks I have never experienced those issues. To be fair those shoes look as though they have been cut.

How were they stored? In a wardrobe with someone hacking away at them?

It's never happened to me. I have a pair of silver Clark pumps still going strong after 8 years. They are in occasional use and stored on a shoe rack most of the time.

No, not cut - just kept in a wardrobe. They just fall apart because of something called hydrolysis and the cheap materials that Clarks chose to use to cut costs.

Plenty more videos like this across the net showing disintegrating, rotting Clarks shoes.

Here's another video:

So many of them!

I buy in advance + save clarks shoes for younger sibs and haven't had any issues like this at all.

Have you actually seen this happen or are you trusting videos?

So there were pools of water in the wardrobe? For hydrolysis to take place, the area must be very wet. It doesnt look anything like those shoes.
Trading Standards could examine those shoes in a laboratory and tell if the damage were caused by hydrolysis or not.

I once had a pair of casual walking shoes (weren't Clarks but were expensive) which were kept in a plastic shoe box in the wardrobe. Weren't worn for about a year, and then first time out, the heel just crumbled away. I was told that this was quite common when no air gets to them, even if they are kept in a cardboard shoe box.

Have I had it happen? Yes - several pairs of shoes that just fell apart, leaving sticky goo everywhere.

Pools of water or damp? No - that's not what hydrolysis is all about. Just a dry wardrobe.

Am I relying on videos? No - there's stuff about this problem all over the internet, but mainly about Clarks' refusal to do anything about it. This, for example: www.complaintboard.com/clark-shoes-l1532.html

Clarks might have been expected to be a consumer-friendly company. Believe me, it isn't any more.

I don't believe for a second that any shoes will just disintegrate on their own.

Don't believe everything you see online.

Hydrolysis by definition involves water

All shoes will do this because they are made with cheap plastics. Once you have a tiny crack/hole water will get in and destroy the material, it will crumble, they then cannot be repaired.
It's not just Clarks that this happens to, the majority of shoe makers use cheap plastic.

I and my kids have clarks shoes. This hasnt happened to any of them.

Perhaps clarks are ignoring it because it bullshit.

I've had a pair disintegrate like this - not Clarks; they don't fit me. It does happen!

I cant comment on the video but this does happen a lot to lots of different brands. I'm a cobbler and see a couple of pairs like this every week.

ive never had a problem with clarks shoes or any other shoes disintegrating, but i dont store them badly

I keep hearing this on MN, as if there's some campaign against Clarks here. My Dc are now 14 & 16 and have always had Clarks school shoes. Always been terribly neglected and badly treated and always lasted the full year. I did have one pair that split after 1.5 terms and I rather cheekily (I thought) took them back and they replaced with new without a murmer. I also had a pair replaced because they rubbed. Where else would do that?

My own work shoes are all from Clarks and are far better quality than any other formal shoes in the same price bracket. I have some boots and sandals that hardly come out from one year to the next, none have ever disintegrated. I really don't get the MN vendetta.

Agree completely with PP too. You can't have Hydrolysis without water. That's what it means.

Hydrolysis, clue in the word Hydro which means water!!
My kids have had plenty of clarks shoes, never happened to them. Some have been stored away for 4yrs for sibling they look fine to me!

Also never experienced this. I'd want to see a video of them changing over time before I'd believe it.

How strange, I stashed DD1's Clarks shoes for DD2 and this hasn't happened.

"I keep hearing this on MN, as if there's some campaign against Clarks here."

You keep hearing it because it happens a lot, but people don't become aware of it until they check their wardrobes - it's not so much a campaign against Clarks on MN (and elsewhere) as an awareness issue.

A lot depends on the particular shoe, and the materials they used. Some are fine, but a lot aren't, as you'll see from other posts in this thread.

And, to the doubters: just because you haven't had it happen to you doesn't mean it hasn't happened!

No Op, I wasn't clear. I've never heard this ridiculous hydrolysis (without water) argument before but I keep hearing the argument that Clarks are poor quality, which simply isnt my experience.

They look cut in the first video.
My dc always wore Clarks, and I wear a lot of Clarks myself.
I have one pair of Clarks that I have owned for 7 years, I only wear them once or twice a year, the rest of the time they are in a box, in a drawer. Nothing bad has ever happened to them.
Sorry, don't believe this.
Unless they are stored in an airless container whilst still damp. Then yes, they would rot.
That said, I left a pair of well-worn Clarks summer shoes out in the garden for a whole winter once. I had put them out to air on a hot summer's afternoon and forgot about them. Found them the following spring when cutting the grass.
They had not disintegrated.
They were very mouldy, but had not disintegrated.

And, to the doubters: just because you haven't had it happen to you doesn't mean it hasn't happened! smile

Well I guess my scepticism comes from the fact that I've had all different types of Clarks shoes... adults, kids, walking boots, school shoes, sandals etc, all different materials and it hasn't happened to any of them. So what shoes is it happening to?

Some of those shoes look like they have been worn judging by the creases on the top of the shoe. The only pair of clarks shoes I have seen this happen to is one that's been stored for forty years. I also buy my children's shoes a year or so in advance and have never had any problems.