Clarks (shoe retailer)
| Clarks | |
| Formerly |
|
| Company type | Limited company |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Street, England (1825) |
| Founder |
|
| Headquarters | , England |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Jonathan Ram (CEO) |
| Products | Footwear |
| Revenue | £1.53 billion (2019) |
| £(75.7) million (2019) | |
| £(82.9) million (2019) | |
| Owner | Viva Goods Company Limited (51%); Clark family (49%) |
Number of employees | 13,000+ |
| Website | clarks |
C. & J. Clark International Limited (trading as Clarks) is a British footwear manufacturer and retailer founded in 1825 by Cyrus Clark in Street, Somerset, where its headquarters remain. As of October 2023, the brand has 320 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and hundreds of franchises located in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific. The company also sells through third-party distribution.
The Clarks brand is best known for its Desert Boot and Wallabee shoes, as well as its collection of school shoes, particularly for children aged 4–12 years.
Clarks manufactured its products in the United Kingdom until 2005, when it began moving some production to the Far East. The company closed its last domestic factory in 2019 as it reported a £84.4 million loss. In November 2020, it was announced that Clarks would be rescued by the Hong Kong-based private equity firm LionRock Capital, and would enter a company voluntary arrangement. The deal meant the company would be out of the Clark family's control for the first time in its history. In February 2023, LionRock Capital sold its remaining indirect stake in Clarks to Viva China Holdings Limited.