His experiences in the Far East also led Clark to design men’s sandals, which
he had seen worn by troops in the Indian Army; these too became a signal
success for the family business.
Nathan Clark was born at Street, Somerset, where the family firm is based, on
July 16 1916, and educated locally and at the Odenwald Schule in Germany. He
joined the family business after leaving school in 1933. Two years later he
went up to Queen’s College, Oxford, but left after two years to serve as a
volunteer ambulance driver with the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
After returning to Britain, he worked for the family firm in Ireland before
joining the Royal Army Service Corps during the Second World War. In 1941 he
went to Burma to help establish a supply line from Rangoon to the Chinese
forces at Chongqing.
After the war Clark returned to the family firm and travelled extensively,
developing Clarks’ business overseas. He also introduced new technologies,
including the Cema vulcanising of the sole on to the shoe, which enabled
Clarks to produce more hard-wearing children’s shoes.
Clark eventually left the family firm and later moved to New York, though he
continued to design shoes and boots and to take an interest in the fortunes
of the Desert Boot. “Fashions go in cycles of about 20 or 25 years, and so
different styles keep coming in and out,” Clark observed. “I wear the shoes
myself and never doubted they were going to be a winner.”
Nathan Clark was unmarried.
Article source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8609435/Nathan-Clark.html
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