Do you know your Manolos from your Matalans? They cost from
£10 to £620 - but can you tell which is which? Modelling legend and shoe addict
Jilly Johnson tried... and fell flat on her face
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2311976/Do-know-Manolos-Matalans--They-cost-10-620--tell-which-Modelling-legend-shoe-addict-Jilly-Johnson-tried--fell-flat-face.html
A great British success: Why the world loves Clarks and its shoes as it nears 200th anniversary
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2311484/Clarks-A-family-firm-kept-polish.html
Chief executive Melissa Potter, who joined the company as a
graduate trainee and was appointed to the top job in 2010 aged 42, has set
about repositioning Clarks in the home market,
with a greater emphasis on style – but without compromising on comfort and
affordability.
‘It’s true that in the past we became polarised between
young and older people, rather than appealing to the 30 to 45 bracket,’ she
said. ‘But that has changed. We are all about real fashion for real people with
a sense of energy and fun.’
Clarks’s history has not
always been filled with fun. It came close to bankruptcy on two occasions; it
has endured boardroom squabbles and seen off a number of predators and has
closed all its factories in the West Country.
But it remains a private company. Some 80 per cent of
shareholders are family members or family trusts. The remainder are mainly
employees and ex-employees.
Clarks was founded by two
brothers, Cyrus and James, who came from a Quaker farming family that had moved
to Street in the early 18th century. They were in the woollen rug trade, but
one day a teenaged James started making slippers from off-cuts of the rugs and
within 10 years Clarks was producing 60 lines
of ready-made footwear.
The brothers were hard-working and inventive but their
accountancy was erratic and they soon found themselves deep in debt. In 1842, a
cousin suggested they emigrate to Australia, but instead Quaker
relatives and other Quaker businesses came to their rescue.
Much the same happened 20 years later but on that occasion
those who bailed them out stipulated that the brothers let James’s son,
William, take over. He revolutionised the company, introducing machinery and
establishing a strict factory system. He remained in charge for nearly 50
years.
It was Nathan Clark, William’s grandson, who invented the
iconic Desert Boot while serving in Burma with the Royal Army Service
Corps in 1941. No one in Street took much interest but eight years later the
fashion editor of Esquire in New York
loved the design so much that he ran a glowing spread in the magazine.
Since then, more than 10million pairs of Desert Boots have
been sold, with customers ranging from Noel Gallagher to Tony Blair.
Clarks’s darkest days came
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The company had bought K Shoes in a bid to
stand up to Charles Clore’s mighty British Shoe Corporation (Freeman Hardy
& Willis, Saxone, Dolcis et al), but many of its 20 or so factories were
becoming uneconomical as cheaper shoes from abroad began to flood the market.
Matters came to a head in 1993 when Berisford International,
a properties and commodities group, made an offer for Clarks
and the board recommended that shareholders accept.
A bitter battle ensued, during which even the Clark family was divided. Eventually, by the narrowest of
margins, shareholders voted against selling and set about installing a new
management structure.
Tim Parker, currently chief executive of Samsonite – and a short-lived
former deputy mayor to Boris Johnson – was brought in as chief executive in
1995 and within 10 years he had closed every single factory here and abroad.
Clarks’s shoes are now made mainly in China and Vietnam but still designed in
Street using sophisticated 3D technology.
Worldwide the company has 1,200 stores and employs more than
15,000 people.
Mary Portas, the so-called Queen of Shops, is a consultant
and her agency Yellow Door is behind much of Clark’s
current, younger-focused advertising.
Meanwhile, the Clarks – many of whom still live in Street –
gather once a year to hear Potter and the board explain the latest set of figures and hear about Clarks’s
wider charitable initiatives.
Afterwards, soft drinks are served in the former canteen
overlooking the Quaker burial ground where the founders are buried.