Clarks expands athleisure offering with “performance walking” shoes

British footwear brand Clarks is looking to accelerate growth in its athleisure category with the introduction of new performance walking styles, following “strong growth” across its Pace and Solevana ranges”.

In a statement, Clarks said it has ambitions to grow across “comfort-led active categories,” building on the success of its first dedicated performance walking shoe in 2025, as market data continues to highlight the potential of the walking category.

Clarks reveals that more than half of UK consumers now walk for fitness weekly, while global research shows the majority still wear running footwear rather than walking-specific designs, meaning there is a gap in the market for creating “specialist product innovation”.

Both its Pace and Solevana styles have “exceeded internal sales expectations,” explains Clarks, with Solevana in particular outperforming volume targets, driven by the brand’s merchandising strategy, as well as value-driven price positioning and broad comfort appeal.

Darren Day, chief marketing officer at Clarks, said in a statement: “Our athleisure growth strategy is built on ensuring broad reach across price points and channels, without ever compromising on quality and wherever people prefer to shop, we make it simple for them to choose our comfort-led products.”

For spring/summer 2026, Clarks is adding the ‘Pace Rise’ trainer, described as its most advanced walking design to date, as it incorporates the brand’s proprietary Infinity Energy Capsules and dual-layer C360 Foam cushioning technology, engineered specifically to support walking gait cycles through energy return, stability and impact reduction.

Priced at 99 pounds, the ‘Pace Rise’ is slightly more expensive than the ‘Pace Move,’ which retails for 79 pounds. They join the ‘Solevana,’ which was specially created for comfort and foot recovery, and became Clarks’ best-selling trainer in 2025 due to its affordable price point at 55 pounds and Pillowsoft footbed for elevated cushioning.

Dawn Porto, global chief product officer at Clarks, added: “We continue to invest heavily in proprietary technology development to ensure Clarks remains competitive not only in our classic categories of women’s, men’s and kids, but also in emerging performance-led segments.”