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Elefanten facing liquidation |
2004-7-19
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Elefanten Schuh GmbH, the German children''s shoe specialist owned by British footwear company Clarks, informed it was in talks with the company''s works council to avoid that 820 people lose their jobs in a possible closure.
Negotiations with potential buyers failed so far, a spokesperson for the Kleve-based company said on Thursday. The closure would affect 250 administrative, logistics, marketing and sales positions in Germany, as well as 570 jobs in factories in Portugal and Slovakia.
"The demand for high-priced children''s shoes and first step learning shoes in Germany has dropped over the past years due to declining birth rates and the difficult economy and we have been increasingly feeling competition from low-price suppliers," the spokesperson said.
Elefanten was acquired by Street, Somerset-based Clarks in 2001, produces 4 million to 5 million pairs of shoes every year. The company declined to provide financial figures.
Parent company Clarks informed that the company fell short of expectations largely due to challenging market conditions in Germany |
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