V.O.B. - News: Vybz Kartel rap leads to booming Clarks shoes sales in Jamaica

The rapper released his single ‘Clarks’ earlier this year with the cover carrying pictures of his favourite shoes – Wallabees, DesertBoots and Desert Treks.

The rap features the catchy chorus line ‘Everybody haffi ask weh mi get mi Clarks’ and even has lyrics about the Queen wearing them.

Since then sales of the footwear have soared on the Caribbean island, with prices doubling and thieves targeting shops which stock them.

Clarks, ‘sensible’ shoes made by a 185-year-old family company from Street, Somerset, enjoyed a similar boom in 1997 when Noel and Liam Gallagher wore Desert Treks.

Kartel, 34, real name Adijah Palmer, has revealed that Clarks are deeply ingrained in Jamaican culture and that he has over 50 pairs.

He said: ‘Clarks is as much a part of Jamaican culture as saltfish and roast breadfruit, I swear to you.

‘Policemen wear it, gangsters wear it. Big men wear it to their work. Schoolchildren wear it to school.’

Dancehall and reggae artist Kartel from west London became a big star in his native Kingston, Jamaica, after releasing the song in March.

The song became so popular that shoe shops in Jamaica doubled their prices from $6,000 (Jamaican Dollars) to over $10,000 – the equivalent of £78.42 a pair.

Police arrested two men who stole more than $2million of Clarks shoes from shops in Linstead, Jamaica.

Michael Borge, marketing director for Clarks in North America, confirmed the increased demand.