Clarks: Made to Last Read online

  Clarks MADE to LAST

  Clarks MADE to LAST

  The story of Britain’s best-known shoe firm

  MARK PALMER

  First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

  Profile Books Ltd

  3A Exmouth House

  Pine Street

  Exmouth Market

  London EC1R 0JH

  www.profilebooks.com

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  Copyright © C & J Clark Ltd 2013

  The Clarks name, logo and trademarks are copyright of and used by permission of

  C. & J. Clark Ltd.

  The moral right of Mark Palmer has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978 1 84668 520 0

  eISBN: 978 1 84765 845 6

  Typeset in Photina by MacGuru Ltd

  [email protected]

  The Tor trademark shown here, named after Glastonbury Tor, the hill overlooking the Clarks home town of Street, has always been identified with the company. It was registered as a trademark on 28 February 1879, but had been used by Clarks for nearly fifty years before that.

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays, Bungay, Suffolk

  The paper this book is printed on is certified by the © 1996 Forest Stewardship Council A.C. (FSC). It is ancient-forest friendly. The printer holds FSC chain of custody SGS-COC-2061

  In memory of my father

  Contents

  List of illustrations

  Acknowledgements

  Introduction

  1 A little extra pocket money

  2 Living beyond your means

  3 Friends in high places

  4 Make – or break

  5 A business for the benefit of all

  6 We were now in retailing good and proper

  7 Measuring feet, maximising profit

  8 Expansion, contraction – and management consultants

  9 Trainers, négligées and selling the brand

  10 Taking sides

  11 Peering over the precipice

  12 Shoes for ‘Mr and Mrs Made It’

  Colour Plates

  Appendices

  1 A Clarks chronology

  2 The Clark family tree

  3 Other Clark family members

  4 An exceptional resource: the Clarks archive

  Bibliography

  Index

  Illustrations

  All images are used by kind permission of the Alfred Gillett Trust and of C. & J. Clark Ltd except where otherwise stated.

  Colour plates

  The ‘Brown Peter’ slipper – the first-ever Clarks shoe

  Early showcard for Cyrus and James Clark’s footwear

  1880s Clarks showcard for the Hygienic range

  1925 centenary showcard designed by Edward McKnight Kauffer

  1927 showcard designed by the Austrian artist Mela Koehler

  1928 showcard by Freda Beard

  Mela Koehler’s 1929 showcard for Clarks ‘dancing sandals’

  1932 showcard, featuring more prominent Clarks branding

  Four 1930s showcards for children’s shoes

  1945 advertisement featuring actress Wendy Hiller

  Actress Greta Gynt in another 1945 advertisement

  Advertisement featuring film star Margaret Lockwood with her daughter Toots in 1946

  Actress Anna Neagle in costume for Jane Austen’s Emma, wearing a replica Clarks period shoe

  1951 showcard for the classic Clarks footgauge

  1953 showcard for children’s shoes: ‘The crocodile with the healthy feet’

  1956 showcard for the men’s Flotilla range

  1957 showcard for ‘Desert Casuals’

  In-store poster from Pentagram’s comprehensive 1970s redesign

  1950s Clarks shoebox for the Le Touquet sandal

  1970s shoebox in the new Pentagram style

  Children’s footgauge in Pentagram signature colours

  1979 press advertisement for Polyveldt-based shoes

  Jack Nano (2010) and Daisy ‘Magic Steps’ (2007) children’s shoes

  David Beckham wearing Clarks Cica Blades in the 1990s

  Endorsement by Olympic medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Percy in 2012

  Union Jack customised Desert Boots

  Florence Welch wearing Clarks Desert Yarra at the Glastonbury Festival, 2010 (David McHugh/Rex Features)

  Noel Gallagher in Desert Boots: Q magazine, November 2012 (Image: Bauer Media)

  The Bombay Light women’s shoe, introduced in 2007

  Marketing material for the range designed with Mary Portas

  Shopfront showing the 2012 C7 redesign

  Press advertisement from US Vogue, 2011

  Image from the winter 2012 UK press and poster campaign

  The Clarks world footgauge

  Text illustrations

  The back garden at Hindhayes in the 1880s

  James Clark

  Cyrus Clark

  Clarks showcard of 1890, showing the main factory

  The Friends’ Meeting House, Street

  Interior of the Friends’ Meeting House, October 1955

  James and Eleanor Clark with their children in 1858

  1851 showcard for goloshes

  William S. Clark as a schoolboy, December 1854

  Elmhurst in 1860

  William S. Clark in 1861

  Showcard designed by John Aubrey Clark c. 1849

  Showcard for ladies’ boots, 1860s

  A Clark family ‘nutting’ party, September 1870

  Greenbank

  Millfield House, designed for William S. Clark in 1889

  The Clarks factory in Street, late 1890s

  The ‘Big Room’, c. 1900

  Poster advertising opening of Crispin Hall, 1885

  Crispin Hall in 1900

  The Bear Inn; a 1926 advertisement card

  Frank Clark in April 1876

  Roger Clark in 1888

  William S. Clark in May 1906

  William S. Clark with his wife Helen and their children, c. 1900

  Public procession in Street, 18 June 1904

  Frank Clark and Harry Bostock in 1906

  Hugh Clark in 1915

  Women’s suffrage parade in Street, 1913

  William Sessions, an outworker, at work c. 1917

  Dennis delivery lorry outside factory entrance, Street, c. 1920

  Interior of Street library

  Alice Clark in 1895

  Greenbank Pool, Street

  Factory workers arriving at the main entrance, 1925

  John Bright Clark in the 1930s

  John Bright Clark in Number One office in 1931

  Hindhayes Infants School, Street

  Bancroft Clark and Bert Bridge, 1943

  Frank Clark making a long-service presentation to John Fox in 1937

  Clark family group, 24 April 1937

  Showcard by Edward McKnight Kauffer, 1920s

  One of C. B. Cochran’s ‘Young Ladies’ in Clarks sandals, 1936

  Western Temperance League centenary lunch, 1935

  Street Women’s Auxiliary Fire Service during the Second World War

  High Clark and George Pursey, November 1943

  Peter Lord shop, Bristol, 1946

  Bancroft Clark

  Tony Clark

  Hugh
Clark and actress Moira Lister in November 1947

  Clarks fitting stool with footgauge, May 1957

  Cheltenham shop interior, 1950s: children’s fitting area

  Margaret Lockwood arriving at Clarks, 23 August 1946

  Margaret Lockwood with women factory workers

  Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth wearing Clarks shoes, March 1947

  Christmas card from Nathan Clark, 1940s

  Ken Crutchlow in Death Valley, 1970

  Press cutting at Street in 1949

  Closing work, 1950

  Showroom in Regent Street, London, in 1950

  The sole room at Street, 1950

  Window display card for teenagers’ shoes, 1950s

  Fashion parade in Moscow, 1956

  Advertising billboard in Toronto, 1967

  James Lidbetter in the Street library extension

  Shopfront in Cheshire, 1963

  Press advertisement, 1965

  Bullmead warehouse

  Peter Lord shop interior in Stafford, 1960s

  Daniel Clark

  Princess Anne on a visit to Street, 12 May 1970

  Peter Lord children’s department, Birmingham, in 1971

  Peter Clothier

  Daniel Clark as chairman

  150th anniversary celebration group photograph, 1975

  ‘Levi’s for feet’ display material

  Pentagram lettering designs for width fittings, 1970s

  Advertisement for Polyveldts

  Computer-aided design (CAD) screen image

  Malcolm Cotton

  Clarks board in 1981 after acquisition of K Shoes

  One of the first Clarks-branded shopfronts, 1984

  Advertisement for Air-Comfort shoes, 1985

  K Shoes shopfront in 1989

  Henry Moore at Street in 1979

  Roger Pedder

  Clarks Village

  The family shareholder council on 5 February 1994

  Tim Parker

  Westway Distribution Centre

  Web page from the new retail website launched in 2008

  Melissa Potter

  Resin shoe model produced by 3D printing technology

  Acknowledgements

  THE HABIT of keeping full and proper records was common to many Quaker businesses – and the records at C. & J. Clark Ltd are remarkably full and proper. They are so detailed and prized so highly that during 2012 the whole collection was moved to a dedicated new building near the Clarks headquarters in Street, Somerset.

  The Clarks archives are managed by Charlotte Berry and Dr Tim Crumplin, assisted by Shirley Stocker. I could not have written this history without their help and cooperation, and I am immensely grateful to them. Tim spent many years researching, sifting and chronicling the archives long before I turned up. He graciously shared his findings with me, and this book includes much of his detailed and largely unheralded work.

  Past and present employees of Clarks have been unfailingly generous with their time, often going out of their way to dig out letters, documents and other items of interest. I have been struck by their vivid memories of life at Clarks and the obvious affection they have for the company and everything it stands for. David Heeley, who occupied senior positions at Clarks throughout his working life, spent many hours patiently explaining the difference between one end of a shoe and the other, and he introduced me to a number of people who played key roles at the company. Among those I would like to mention here are: Neville Gillibrand, Kevin Crumplin, Paul Harris, David Lockyer, Eric Saville, Robert Wallace, John Aram, Michael Fiennes, Dudley Cheeseman, Royston Colman, Andrew Peirce and Maurice Burt, who joined Clarks as a teenager in 1948.

  Those connected indirectly with the business as consultants or through advertising, marketing and other related activities are also due enormous thanks. They include: Colin Fisher, Peter York, Alan Bracher, Mary Portas, Professor John A. Davis, Suzanne Stroh, Geoff Howard-Spink, John McConnell, Ian Paris, June Swann and Grant Gordon, from the Institute for Family Business.

  Rebecca Shawcross at the Northampton Shoe Museum allowed me to rummage through documents in the basement of her building, which presented a fascinating insight into the shoe industry of the past. Many thanks also to Carol Howard, Paul Charles, Peter Ford, Jenny Coad, Kate O’Grady, John and Jayne Haw, Laura Powell, Angela Southern, Richard Houlton, the librarians at Friends House in the Euston Road, London, Edgar Smith, John Potts of the Clarks marketing department, Anthony Perillo, Sylvia Woon, and Dick Shilton, archivist at Millfield School.

  John Clothier and Malcolm Cotton were both senior executives at Clarks in the 1980s and 1990s and, as a result, I pestered them with great regularity. At all times, they responded with good grace and were unquestionably honest in their assessment of what went right – and what went wrong – while they were in positions of responsibility. Members of the current board have also been extremely helpful, not least the chief executive, Melissa Potter, and the chairman, Peter Davies. I would also like to thank Melissa’s two immediate predecessors, Peter Bolliger and Tim Parker.

  The Clark family is a big one and I have had the privilege of getting to know many of them. Richard Clark and Harriet Hall have been my main points of contact and they have guided me along the way with a sure and enthusiastic hand. I have appreciated their wise counsel and their great knowledge of Clarks.

  Roger Pedder, a former Clarks chairman who married into the family and was at the centre of some of Clarks’ most turbulent days, gave up many hours to help me and I am especially indebted to him. Other family members who have provided welcome assistance include Hugh and Gloria Clark, William Johnston, Jan Clark, Ralph Clark, Lance Clark, Caroline Gould, Caroline Pym and Hugh Pym.

  It has been a great pleasure working with Profile Books. Paul Forty improved the final product hugely, supported by Fiona Screen and Virginia Wallis. And I want especially to thank Stephen Brough, who has overseen this whole project with great clarity and calmness. From the start, his skilled editorial advice and general guidance have been invaluable – and he never lost his sense of humour.

  I would like to thank members of my own family. My cousin, Howard Palmer, clarified diligently the connection between the Palmers and the Clarks (we are distant cousins) going back to the late eighteenth century in Somerset; my son, Henry, helped with research and worked the Clarks photocopying machine with aplomb; my daughter, Olivia, was always quick to give an opinion on Clarks footwear, both past and present, and my two stepsons, Freddy and Monty, have shown an interest in Clarks beyond the call of duty, always keeping spirits high during my long absences from home. My father-in-law, Noel Harvey, read parts of my account as I went along and I appreciated greatly his thoughtful comments.

  Finally, I want to single out my wife, Joanna, for whom weekends were pretty dull while I was engaged on the book. But she supported me with love and affection. She enriches my life and she has enriched this book.

  Introduction

  CONTINUITY IS NO GUARANTEE of success in business. Sometimes it can be a hindrance, a disincentive for making the changes required to modernise, propel a company forward or even transform it completely. Statistics bear this out, with research by the Institute for Family Business showing that only around 13 per cent of family firms survive to the third generation. It is therefore remarkable that the company now known as Clarks has survived well into its seventh.

  But it has not always been a comfortable ride. This is a firm that came perilously close to bankruptcy within a couple of decades of its formation in 1825 and then found itself in an even more precarious position a few years later. On both occasions, the family firm was bailed out by cousins, friends and others with whom it shared a powerful Quaker bond. It then went on to become one of the biggest shoe companies – and one of the most famous – in the world.

  Along the way, the Somerset village of Street, where Clarks has been based for nearly 200 years, grew into a town almost entirely on the back of the footwear-producing firm. F
rom just a few pairs of home-made slippers in 1831, Clarks now sells more than 50 million pairs of shoes a year, has a turnover of almost £1.4 billion and employs some 15,000 people.

  That the company started at all is thanks to a seventeen-year-old apprentice, who, aware that he was to receive little in the way of remuneration for working in his brother’s sheepskin enterprise, hit upon an idea that would lead to the creation of an iconic British brand. The apprentice was James Clark, son of Joseph Clark I, a Quaker with a ‘gift in the vocal ministry’ who travelled widely espousing the teachings of George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends, and who would have been pleased if his son had done likewise.

  James was born in Street in 1811, the youngest of three brothers. His oldest sibling, Joseph, was a yeoman farmer specialising in the corn trade; his second brother, Cyrus, was in the wool business. After an exhaustive Quaker education – during which he was deeply unhappy – James was meant to be apprenticed to a chemist in Bath, but successfully pleaded with his father to let him stay in Street and help Cyrus.

  Cyrus had a talent for trade. By the age of twenty he had set up a wool and tanning business with a Quaker cousin, but soon broke away on his own to make rugs from the sheepskins rather than pulling off the wool for sale to textile merchants. James, in turn, was keen to find some practical use for the off-cuts of Cyrus’s rugs and began working after hours with a large pair of scissors and some needle and thread. He produced slippers which were so warm in winter that people didn’t want to take them off and so comfortable in summer that people wanted to keep them on. He also made sheepskin socks, which at the time were used by the shoe trade as inner linings to protect the underside of the foot from the insole.

  James and Cyrus went on to form a partnership, variously producing rugs, mops, chamois leather, galoshes, gloves, leggings, angora hats, scarves, coats – and shoes. Cyrus was ten years older than James and though they were close and appeared to work well together it did not prevent an acrimonious battle between their respective families over Cyrus’s will following his death in 1866, the outcome of which would play a part in determining whether the business died or thrived.