C. & J. Clark
 |
|
| Clarks | |
| Limited company | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Street, England (1825) |
| Founder | Cyrus Clark and James Clark |
| Headquarters | Street, Somerset, England |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Mike Shearwood, Chief executive officer |
| Products | Footwear |
| Revenue |
 £1,492m (2015) |
|
£129 m (2015) |
|
|
Number of employees
|
15,380 |
| Website | www |
C. & J. Clark International Ltd, trading as Clarks, is a British-based, international shoe manufacturer and retailer. It was founded in 1825 by Quaker brothers Cyrus and James Clark in Street, Somerset, England – where it still has its headquarters. The company has over 1,000 branded stores and franchises around the world and also sells through third-party distribution.
For the year ending January 2013, the company made a profit of £150 million on sales of £1,433m making it the 31st largest private company in the UK. More than half of its £1.4bn annualised sales to January were generated abroad, and since 2010 the company has moved into India, where it now has 25 stand-alone stores, and relaunched itself in China, where it has opened 400 outlets in partnership with local footwear retailers.
It is 84% owned by the Clark family, with the remaining 16% held by employees and related institutions.
The company is renowned for its Desert Boot – a distinctive ankle height boot with crepe rubber sole, usually made out of calf suede leather traditionally supplied by Charles F Stead & Co tannery in Leeds. Officially launched in 1950 the Desert Boot was designed by Nathan Clark (great-grandson of James Clark) based on an unlined suede boot profile produced in the bazaars of Cairo and worn by British officers in the Second World War.
Origins of C. & 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, woolstapling and tanning in Street, Somerset. By 1825, this partnership had been dissolved and Cyrus relocated to a site on the High Street in Street, utilising premises that belonged to his father-in-law to exploit his idea of making rugs out of sheepskins instead of pulling off the wool. C. & J. Clark recognise this as the beginning of their business and continue to occupy the site upon which Cyrus started to this very day.
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Wikipedia