Died Nathan Clark - Inventor of Desert Boots

At the age of 94, Nathan Clarke, one of the founders of the British brand Clark's, the main ideologist and "inventor of the myth" of desert shoes, died. In recent years he lived in the United States.

When Nathan Clarke proposed Desert boots in 1949, he did not think about creating a legend or revolution in the shoe world, but it happened differently. The prototype of the Desert model was the high army boots that he and his comrades wore during the war in Burma. On a rubber sole, made of suede, the boots were unusually comfortable. They were sewed for the army in the bazaar, which was located on the outskirts of old Cairo. Nathan brought the sketches to the company, which in the 20's of the 19 century was founded by his relatives, James and Cyrus Clark. And I heard in response that these shoes would never be sold. Many years have passed and 12 million pairs were sold. In total, the company sells about 40 million pairs per year.

Prior to joining Oxford, Nathan was educated at the Odenwaldschule, a German shoe design school. In 1968, it was in his shoes that participants in student demonstrations were shod. Returning home after the war, he made a prototype of a new shoe and presented it at a shoe exhibition in Chicago. It was done at the right time in the right place. In America, which was experiencing the consequences of the baby boom, there was a catastrophic lack of youth shoes, Clark's imported models were supposed to be part of military uniforms in the 50s and 60s.

From the end of the 60's until now, the clarks have remained Beatles shoes, shoes worn by people challenging society - Bob Dylan, Steve McQueen, Liam Gallagher from Oasis. Now they are putting on the star of the series “Sex and the City” Sarah Jessica Parker. In 2009, the limited edition “50 shoes that changed the world” appeared.