Clarks loses former figurehead
05/03/2018
Current Clarks chief executive, Mike Shearwood, commented: “ We have lost an immense character who will be forever prominent in our company’s history.”
Lance Clark was brought up in Street in Somerset, where Clarks has its base. He was responsible for overseeing the development of the Wallabee shoe in the 1960s and was among the members of the Clark family that fought to keep the famous footwear company under family ownership when pressure came to sell in the 1990s.
He was successful in that battle but it led to an agreement that the running of the company should be handed over to professional people outside the family.
Nevertheless, Lance Clark kept up his ties to the footwear industry by spending some time at Barker Shoes and by founding, in 2003, Soul of Africa, an aid initiative that seeks to alleviate unemployment in Africa by teaching people shoemaking skills. He was also the chairman of minimalist footwear brand Vivobarefoot, launched by his son Galahad in 2012.
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