200 Years of Comfort
For 200 years, we’ve set the standard – and we’re just getting started. In 2025, we honour past and present, proudly commemorating this two-century legacy of innovation and impact through an all-new film, book, museum exhibit, and style collaborations.
Celebrate 200 years with us
Our Founders
Our story began in 1825 in Street, Somerset, when Cyrus Clark opened a tannery manufacturing leather goods, his brother James working alongside him. Among the sheepskin rugs, James had a flash of inspiration: to use the off-cuts to create slippers – minimising waste, maximising ingenuity, and defining the next 200 years of shoemaking. Every Clarks shoe since our very first pair uses this distinctive combination of innovation and craftsmanship, sustaining all that we do.
Our Roots
Our feet are still firmly planted in the Somerset countryside where it all began. Clarks Headquarters nestles in the shadow of the Glastonbury Tor – a local landmark with a longstanding connection to Clarks that has featured as a stamp of quality throughout our rich 200-year history.
The Clark family has always invested in the Street community, funding and building local amenities, and this location has become an important part of the Clarks identity and heritage. The building still houses some machinery used over our 200-year history, including a steam engine called ‘Anthony’ which was installed in 1910 to power the site and the workers’ cottages located close by. The clock tower, red-brick chimney and water tower can be seen from several miles away.
Next to our HQ in Street is the Shoemakers Museum – a brand-new visitor attraction making public the collections of the Alfred Gillett Trust Charity. The museum archive contains historic items related to Clarks Shoes and the Clark family, including documents, photographs, and advertisements. Incredibly, it houses over 25,000 shoes, showcasing the evolution of shoe designs, constructions, and technologies over the years. The archive continues to actively collect Clarks company materials.
And though Clarks is now a global organisation, that Somerset spirit of looking out for each other is still strong – from taking care of customers to supporting our charity partners.
Our Values
As a Quaker-founded company, social activism and investing in the community have powered the Clark family values for two centuries. Progressive yet unpretentious, Quakers committed to truth, equality and peace – principles integral to our change-making history.
Cyrus and James were lifelong Quakers, and when William, James’s son, took over the company, he followed the guiding principles of equality and community to look after his factory workers. He built homes and supported their education by constructing classrooms and securing funding. And Clarks’ imprint extended beyond employees to benefit wider social initiatives in Street: a theatre was opened, a library was built, and an open-air swimming pool, town hall, and playing fields were established for everyone’s enjoyment.
Clark women were notably active in championing social reform. Quakers were staunchly abolitionist, and in the 1850s Eleanor Stephens Clark vigorously supported anti-slavery activities, including being part of the ‘Free Produce Movement’. This encouraged consumer boycotts of goods made by enslaved people, promoting goods cultivated by free labour instead. Committed to supporting women’s rights, in early 1913, Alice Clark, the first woman in the Clarks Board of Directors, served on the executive committee of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS). They ran a six-week-long suffrage pilgrimage, ending in a large rally in Hyde Park, where Alice carried a Street Women’s Suffrage banner made by her sister Esther.
Our icons
Often imitated, never bettered. From the very first Brown Petersburg slipper created by Cyrus and James Clark through to Nathan Clark’s groundbreaking Desert Boot that revolutionised casual footwear, our extraordinary British heritage spans over 200 years. We’ve created over 22,000 styles and our timeless classics – the Wallabee, Desert Boot and Desert Trek – underpin countercultures and define generations.
Understated yet distinctive, cool without trying – Clarks’ icons transcend geographical boundaries to resonate with diverse style sensibilities, past and present. Since the original Desert Boot set foot in Jamaica in the mid-20th century, our shoes have accrued cult status year after year in dancehall, reggae, and beyond, and they’re still the go-to choice of the island nation. Our iconic Wallabee complemented Manchester’s late ’80s alt-rock/dance culture collision and fuelled Britpop’s infectious energy. And synonymous with hip-hop in its most formative era, the Wallabee is also woven into the fabric of New York City, where Clarks shoes embody minimalist, versatile design.
The Desert Boot and Wallabee are still among our bestselling and most-loved designs, worn by everyone from illustrious artists to everyday heroes. And we keep pushing the boundaries, referencing our history to inform our future. Our latest icon, Torhill, remixes the Wallabee’s instantly recognisable moccasin design with statement soles informed by our ‘90s Big Gripper profile, for a vintage-inspired silhouette as relevant now as ever.
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The world at their feet
We know that kids need their shoes to be so much more than just shoes. They’ve got to be dream-big boundary breakers, super-brave journey takers, and everyday memory-makers. And from supporting their very first steps to sparking imaginations on the playground, our 170 years of expertise in children’s feet makes sure kids have everything they need for the happiest and healthiest start in life.
In 1836, the launch of our iconic Kids’ range set a new standard for children’s footwear. We were the very first brand to give growing toes space to develop, inventing half-sizes and width fittings – and of course, the unforgettable Clarks Kids foot gauge. Launched in the 1940s, this groundbreaking measuring tool prioritised foot health and a proper shoe fit (not to mention marking a milestone moment that many grown-ups still remember now!)
Through the 1950s we became a trusted name in children’s footwear, debuting our first-ever TV adverts, educating parents on the importance of foot health, later engaging kids directly with super-fun campaigns and collections. School shoes became a cultural staple in Britain, with getting fitted for a new pair an end-of-summer tradition. Generations of kids have grown up in Clarks, and nostalgic ranges like Clarks Commandos from the 1960s, and Magic Steps and Hardware from the 1980s, are cherished by many. Today, we’re still taking leaps to create shoes that capture children’s imaginations – from relaunching the Clarks CICA silhouette via our metaverse Roblox game to inspiring kids to wear their power in our Netflix Stranger Things collaboration.
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Our Innovations
No one gets to their 200th birthday without moving with the times. That’s why we’ve always tried to stay a work in progress, working on progress.
An innovator by nature, William Clark was more than just a shoemaker – he was a visionary. He embraced science and technology to keep Clarks evolving, like using the ground-breaking Singer sewing machine. In the 1860s, Clarks designed and patented its very own sewing machine, too, and established a factory system, with working conditions that were far ahead of their time. In 1883, we launched the trailblazing ‘Hygienic’ range, some of the first-ever shoes designed to fit the shape of the foot, an innovation that’s still the bedrock of Clarks’ reputation.
This passion continued into the 20th century and with Roger, John Bright and Alice Clark in charge, Clarks continued to grow with the opening of more factories, the launch of our very first press advertisement in 1936, and launching new stores in 1937. There were new materials to use and trademark activities too, like Active Air™ – all of which helped Clarks become the world’s most famous footwear brand.
And whilst now, as always, every pair of our shoes begins with a hand-carved hornbeam last (a foot-shaped mould on which a shoe is shaped) for the very best fit and feel, we’re constantly developing new construction techniques and comfort technologies to create progressive pairs tailor-made for the demands of modern living.
We’ll keep stepping forward, making moves, so nothing breaks our stride. And in 200 years, when people look back, we hope we’re still at the centre of it all – footwear, fashion, and forward thinking.
The Shoemakers Museum archive contains 25,000 shoes – and if you arranged them in a line, heel to toe, they would cover over eight miles.
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