Clarks and UNICEF Shoe Biz Appeal

UNICEF and Clarks, the leading children’s shoe retailer, have joined forces to ask people across the UK to donate their old shoes.

Collection points have been set up at more than 500 Clarks stores nationwide for people to deposit their old or unwanted footwear. The shoes will be recycled in the UK and the money raised will be used to fund UNICEF's education projects.

How to donate your shoes

Please take your shoes to your nearest Clarks store. The shoes you donate will make a difference to children’s lives around the world.

Find your nearest Clarks store

What your shoes can provide

• One pair of shoes could provide a child with a pencil and an exercise book.
• 84 pairs of shoes could buy 300 exercise books, enough for 150 children for a year.
• 600 pairs of shoes could buy a 'school-in-a-box' kit. This is a ready-made education pack in a lockable metal box, containing equipment for 80 pupils, including pencils, erasers, exercise books, writing slates, scissors and carrier bags. It also contains equipment for a teacher, including marker pens, posters, registers and a blackboard.

Why raise funds for education?

• Every child has the right to an education which develops their personality, talents and abilities to the full. Primary education must be free for all children. The world made this promise to every child when it adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Nearly one fifth of children of primary school age children worldwide are not in school. The majority are from ethnic minorities in remote regions, working children, children living in conflict zones, children affected by HIV and AIDS or children with disabilities. Girls account for 54 per cent of children not in school.
• Education enhances the lives of children and the societies in which they live. It can help to end cycles of poverty, hunger and disease. Research shows that school attendance in and of itself can be a strong protective factor against HIV. School offers children a safe haven in which they can learn, grow, play and make friends, as well as receive life-saving vaccines, clean water and food.

Find out more about UNICEF education projects

The Children's Corner game

The money we raised from last year's Blue Peter Shoe Biz appeal is being used to support Children's Corners in Malawi. These are community centres for orphans and vulnerable children.

Play the Children's Corner game