Schuh hails step forward in disability awareness

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Nov 21, 2023

Footwear retailer Schuh is helping ‘re-think disability’, furthering its commitment to “actively better understand, spotlight and support disabled people as customers and employees”.

As part of Schuh’s Disability Equality the brand is raising awareness of the current Disability History Month with progress on several fronts.

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 its e-commerce imagery is now shot with disabled models and models with visible differences, up from 15% last year; it 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 its Disability Confident Employee pilot initiative, it has created work experience opportunities for disabled or neurodiverse individuals and groups; and Schuh has worked with equality, diversity and inclusion consultancy partner Goss Consultancy to ensure websites are accessible.

And to publicise Disability History month, Schuh has added the latest instalment of its charity tote bag series collaborating with Shape Arts to launch a Disability Equality bag, designed by disability advocate and artist Grace Fairley.

The Shape Arts x Schuh tote bag will be available online and in all 124 Schuh stores, priced at £3/€3.44. All profits from the sales are directly donated to the charity partner to help fund its work.