Clarks History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Clarks, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
C. and J. Clark International Ltd, doing business as Clarks, is a British international shoe manufacturer and retailer majority owned by Viva Goods. It was founded in 1825 by Cyrus Clark in the village of Street, Somerset, England, where the company's headquarters remain. Origins of C. and J. Clark can be traced back to 1821, when Cyrus Clark (1801-1866) entered into a partnership with a Quaker cousin in the trade of fellmongering, wool-stapling and tanning in Street, Somerset. By 1825 the partnership had been dissolved and Cyrus relocated to a site on the High Street in Street, using premises that belonged to his father-in-law, to exploit his idea of making rugs out of sheepskins instead of pulling off the wool - and C. and J. Clark recognise this as the beginning of their business and continue to occupy the site upon which Cyrus started to this very day.
Innovation, the Desert Boot and 22,000 Styles
From the very beginning they have always thought differently - the company(?:'|')s refrain, documented with examples: from the slipper created by Cyrus and James Clark back in 1825 to the world's first foot-shaped shoe; from kids' ranges in whole sizes, half sizes and a choice of widths to a state-of-the-art iPad foot gauge; from innovative underfoot cushioning to rapid prototyping and 3D printing. In 1883 the Clarks introduced the Hygienic line of footwear, featuring foot-conforming insoles. In their archive of more than 22,000 Clarks styles are shoes that have sparked a revolution, defined a generation and captured the imagination - like the iconic Clarks Desert Boot, designed by Nathan Clark and launched in 1950, whose appeal endures to this day.
The product span is the full footwear wardrobe: casual and formal shoes, boots, sandals and athletic shoes, positioned on dedication to comfort, quality and style, and distributed through an extensive retail network and e-commerce platforms with a strong presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia and other parts of the world. The company(?:'|')s US site is in the References, and the routes lead to the shoe companies list, shoe styles guide, shoe stores area and footwear terminology pages of Apparel Search - the working context of a footwear filing.
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References & Further Reading
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