British shoe company, Clarks have launched a campaign to raise funds for new schools, drop in centres and refuges that provide Africa’s orphaned children with “a place to live, to learn, to feel safe and to feel loved.”
Titled, the “Soul of Africa,” the new initiative also aims to give unemployed women a way to provide for their children by paying them to help produce the campaign’s covetable footwear range.
Every item is made in either South Africa or Ethiopia, using the finest local leathers, while each pair of shoes sold will see money go to the project, with the margin between the production cost and the trade selling price being donated to its trust, along with an additional £3 from every pair of Soul of Africa-branded shoes sold from Clarks’ stores.
Lance Clark of Clarks shoes and co-founder of Soul of Africa, explained what sparked the idea for the project, saying;
“I was taken to an orphanage that was in a terrible state. A little boy came out and hugged me and I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried. From that moment on I was determined to improve the lives of the children.”
Clarks UK has also created a special collection that is made in Tunisia, but also in the pipeline is “a product range that has a unique identity distinctive and true to its African origins.”
We’ll watch this space but in the meantime, why not buy one of Clarks’ cool kicks (£39.99-£69.99) here for your chance to make a difference to someone’s life alongside your wardrobe;
Image source: Clarks.co.uk
