Creator of the desert boot dies
30/06/2011
Mr Clark worked in the family firm for many years before moving to New York, where he continued to design footwear.
His most notable contribution to Clarks was the introduction of the desert boot, a product that has remained popular at all levels of the market since he brought it to the industry’s attention in 1949.
Nathan Clark was serving in Burma during the Second World War when he noticed soldiers wearing rough suede boots with crepe soles. They had come from local tradesmen in Cairo’s Old Bazaar.
“I thought a version of these boots would make a good all-round shoe,” he said in an interview later in his life, so he created a version for Clarks. At first the company was less than keen, thinking that suede shoes for men would not sell, but Mr Clark took samples of the boot to the 1949 Chicago Shoe Fair, where they proved popular.
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