Well deserved “Shoe of the Century”

By: Money Moonchie

In a world where sneakers are always the hot topic & I’m always for the evolution of sneakers, but I had to give this specific shoe its over due flowers. I also had do this one for the Caribbean culture and dedicate shoe of the century to the one and only: Clark’s.

Founded in England in 1825 by Cyrus & James Clark, history was made. The two brother company originally started out making rugs out of sheepskin & James later on decided to make slippers out of the leftover sheepskin which evolved into producing the first Clark shoe. It took some years to perfect the different silhouette, styles & colors.

The three most infamous silhouette styles are Wallabee, Desert & Bank Robbers. Clark's targeted Jamaica as an export market as far back as the 1940's via advertisements in the local papers & the rest is history.

Clarks has made its way into becoming a well deserved household name for themselves. From collaborations with Monclear, Palm Angels, Supreme & Dancehall artist, Popcaan just to name a few. Growing up Clark’s were our version of Air Force’s & you couldn’t tell us that Clark’s weren’t Jamaica’s unassigned assigned national shoe.

This years collaboration with Supreme features a glossy patent leather wallabee silhouette and to my knowledge these are the first extra glossy pair that have been made. I’m actually highly impressed with the outcome of these and look forward hearing about the upkeep of the material.

In Jamaica a lot of people in the past and even still as much in the present use walking as their way to get around from A to B. Clark's were the first “casual” shoe to be introduced and mass produced before others. There’s an old Jamaican saying that goes, “we likkle but we tallawah,” and that means “we may be likkle, but we’re strong and can do anything” and with that power Jamaica has helped build the Clark’s ever lasting name.

Dancehall artist have gone the extra mile to even dedicate songs to Clark’s such as “Clark’s” and “Clark’s Again” by Vybz Kartel and if you know then you absolutely know the two songs I’m referring to.

As a shoe fanatic Clark’s are for sure in my top 5 list of favorite shoes of all time and if I’m being a little bias about specifics, wallabee’s & Bank Robbers are my favorite silhouettes. The growth and evolution of Clark’s will always hold a special place to me.

If you own a pair of Clark’s what’s your favorite out of your collection? & if you could have any pair (collaboration pairs included) which pair would it be?