Drapers - Clarks celebrates 200th anniversary with short film


Narrated by US actor Yasiin Bey and directed by filmmaker Set Free Richardson, the documentary highlights Clarks’ evolution from a humble workshop in Road, Somerset, right into a globally famend footwear model.

Its journey started in 1825, when brothers Cyrus and James Clark made a slipper from sheepskin cut-offs.

The footwear model went on to launch the long-lasting Desert Boot in 1950, designed by Nathan Clark, and Wallabee footwear, which has been a staple in its providing since 1967.

Because it expanded into new markets, Clarks gained prominence amongst Jamaican ska and reggae musicians in Seventies and the American hip-hop group in Eighties.

Tim Crumplin, archivist on the Shoemakers Museum, mentioned: “Somerset in 1825 was comparatively lower off from the remainder of the nation, which required self-sufficiency and inspired the Clark household to do issues otherwise.”

Musician Liam Gallagher, who is because of launch his second collaboration with Clarks this 12 months, recalled: “My earliest reminiscences of Clarks, might be once I’ve gone to high school… as a result of everybody was carrying them, they have been the all the fad again then.”

Martine Rose, British-Jamaican designer, mentioned: “At any time when your baby will get their first pair of footwear, Clarks is the primary place that you simply go, in order that you recognize their width, in order that you recognize their depth, in order that you recognize the scale of their little toes.”