With 22.000 different Clarks styles produced since the company’s foundation in 1825, it is above all the Desert Boot, launched in 1949, the 1967 Wallabee moccasin and the Desert Trek shoe which debuted in the early 1970s, that have become modern cultural and design icons. Built from lasts and patterns stored in the company’s own extensive archive, today’s Clarks shoes are recreated with great respect to the original leathers, threads and stitch details. The characteristic Clarks crepe rubber sole is cut from crinkled sheets of coagulated latex and was initially part of the Desert Boot design, inspired by a type of suede boot sold at the large bazaar in Cairo and worn by off-duty British officers. The Clarks company remains family-owned and is still based in its hometown of Street in southwest England.