Footwear specialist Clarks is set to open three new Cloudsteppers concept stores in Southeast Asia and the United States, featuring accessories and apparel for the first time, Retail Week can reveal.
The retailer will open its very first Cloudsteppers lifestyle store today in Malaysia (November 5), followed by a second opening of the new concept in the same country on November 7. The retailer will also open its first Cloudsteppers store in the US in Texas later in December.
Clarks then has plans to open at least a further 10 of these new concept locations across Asia and the US in 2026. The retailer is stepping up its international expansion plans for the brand, following a strong 2025, where it expanded its store estate and digital reach across the US, Asia, Europe and the UK in 2025 and struck new marketplace partners with the likes of Shein, Target, Walmart and TikTok Shop.
Cloudsteppers is Clarks’ range of lightweight shoes, sandals and flip-flops, and is currently America’s number-one brand in women’s flip-flops.
For the first time in the brand’s history, the new stores will not only feature footwear, but also new apparel and accessories ranges. Retail Week understands that the non-footwear ranges will be rolled out to Clarks UK customers in 2026.
The non-footwear ranges will include t-shirts, hoodies, socks, caps and bags, all under the Cloudsteppers branding. Clarks is looking to further evolve the non-footwear offering in the new year, with plans to expand the range further into leggings and windbreaker jackets.
The retailer will also be expanding the Cloudsteppers brand into menswear and accessories, with men’s footwear set to launch in January 2026.
Peter Quirke, Clarks VP Americas retail, said: “Comfort technology is our obsession. We’ve engineered cushioning and ultra-lightweight innovation for decades – and we’re proud to make that comfort even more accessible through new retail environments and expanded lifestyle ranges. Launching Cloudsteppers as a standalone experience is a milestone we’re incredibly excited about, and there’s so much more to come in 2026.”
The new concept stores represent another significant strategic step for the brand, after Retail Week revealed in September that it would be launching its first-ever standalone online marketplace.
Celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2025, Clarks president of UK and Ireland Joe Ullola believes that the brand is turning a corner, after several difficult years.
“We’re probably as stable as we’ve been for a number of years,” he said in an interview in September.
“We did a lot of work about 14, 15 months ago, listening to what consumers were saying and what they were telling us about our shoes, our ranges, our proposition.”
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