schuh launches Disability Equality tote bag with Shape Arts, inspired by 're-thinking disability'
- schuh shares the latest instalment of its charity tote bag series with Disability Equality partner, Shape Arts, designed by disability advocate and artist Grace Fairley.
- schuh shares disability inclusive progress for customers and employees.
- schuh launches newly designed Purpose Pillar Hub showcasing progress and commitments.
LONDON, Nov. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- At schuh, we love footwear more than most, but we know some things are more important. We're about shoes and sneaks, but also the people wearing them – teams, customers and the wider community. Our mission is to foster self-expression and style within an inclusive community that inspires progress through purpose.
Our Purpose Pillars embody over 40 years of the brand's diversity, self-expression, and inclusivity culture. The Purpose Pillars have evolved into three main pillars – Sustainability, Mental Wellness and Fostering Diverse Talent, which includes Racial Equality, Disability Equality and LGBT+ Equality.
Our Disability Equality charity partner, Shape Arts is a disability-led arts organisation who work to remove barriers for disabled people in arts and culture.
Shape Arts nominated one of their artists, Grace Fairley, to create this year's tote bag design, inspired by the theme "re-thinking disability". Grace Fairley is an award-winning illustrator, and 2D animator. She loves everything weird, wonderful and colourful. She believes that big messages can be communicated in simple ways. Her work has a special focus on disability, mental health, and womanhood.
Available online and in all 124 schuh stores from November for £3.00/€3.44, all profits from the sales of these tote bags are directly donated back to the charity partner to help fund their work.
As part of schuh's Disability Equality commitment to actively better understand, spotlight and support disabled people as customers and employees, schuh will be raising awareness of Disability History Month from the 16th November sharing some of the progress it has made to improve inclusion and accessibility.
Some of this progress includes:
- Through its bespoke schuh academy training platform, over 82% of store teams have completed a Disability Confident training module and over 76% have completed an Autism Awareness module.
- Almost 20% of schuh's ecommerce imagery is now shot with disabled models and models with visible differences, up from 15% last year, better representing the disabled community.
- This year schuh has donated 487 items of footwear to Jo's Odd Shoes, for people who only wear one shoe or two odd shoes because of amputation, limb absence or conditions, such as CRPS.
- Through schuh's Disability Confident Employee pilot initiative, it has created work experience opportunities for disabled or neurodiverse individuals and groups. As a result of this initiative schuh has permanently employed two new team members in their stores.
- schuh has worked with equality, diversity and inclusion consultancy partner Goss Consultancy Ltd. to ensure their websites are accessible, and have resolved accessibility issues highlighted through this work. Regular access reviews will be carried out and accessibility incorporated into future developments wherever possible.
schuh has made significant milestones centred around raising social consciousness amongst employees, brand partners and customers. We're proud of our progress but have plenty more work to do. The newly redesigned Purpose Pillar Hub shares some of our progress and goals for the future.
The Shape Arts x schuh tote bag will be available online and in stores this November, priced at £3.00/€3.44.
The Purpose Pillar Hub is live now:
www.schuh.co.uk/our-community-pillars/
www.schuh.ie/our-community-pillars/
About schuh
schuh is one of the leading fashion footwear retailers with over 120 stores in the UK, Ireland and online, selling over 80 of the hottest brands alongside their own label collection.
The stores offer a unique shopping experience, known for their distinctive in-store atmosphere and excellent customer service. The website delivers a seamless multi-channel experience with best-in-class shipping, free delivery to store in as little as 20 minutes and an always-on 1-year return period.
Across its adult and kids ranges schuh offers an extensive range of products with access to the best brands and the latest styles.
About Shape Arts
Shape Arts is a disability-led arts organisation which works to improve access to culture for disabled people by providing opportunities for disabled artists, training cultural institutions to be more open to disabled people, and through running participatory arts and development programmes.
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