🔗 Share this article

For some patrons, the exhibition may stir up recollections of being fitted for their first pair of school shoes on a rather chilly metal measuring device. Some visitors, the exhibits of immaculate Wallabees and Desert Boots may recall youthful obsessions with American hip-hop or Britpop movements.

Memories will also return vividly for numerous residents whose families made the brand’s footwear for decades, as the newly opened Shoemakers Museum opens its doors in the Somerset village of Street.

Nicky Dowding noted that some guests may be astonished at how far this very British brand, which is marking its 200th year in this year, expanded across the world. “In the UK, Clarks is often associated with children’s footwear, but among fans across the world it’s viewed in very different ways,” she stated.

Hundreds of examples of footwear are exhibited, with some cabinets resembling bright, abstract pieces of art. Dowding revealed that many more were kept in archives: “One of the biggest tasks we’ve had while creating the museum is essentially selecting the items to showcase? Which narratives do we want to tell? Because there is an overwhelming amount.”

Fans of urban music and the TV series Breaking Bad are likely to hot-foot it to the displays of Wallabees, designed in the late 1960s, and inspired by the moccasin.

The Wallabee was initially seen as too unconventional in the UK but proved immensely successful in the United States and was championed by artists of the NYC hip-hop band the renowned collective, who sported them, wrote about them, and featured them in album covers.

In later years, these shoes had a starring role in the first episode of the series when Walter White, the science instructor turned illicit drug manufacturer, wore a set, along with comical white briefs.

A further key feature of the museum is its account of the desert boot, inspired by the journeys of a Clarks relative to Myanmar and India during the World War II. They grew into a favourite of the 1960s subculture in the UK and were also worn passionately by the famous brothers.

Clarks’ Quaker originators may have been taken aback that their enterprise became such a favourite among stars.

The first exhibit in the gallery is a simple pair of house shoes made from scraps of a woolen mat around 1825. The exhibition describes how the business quickly expanded into one of the most important in the English West Country, and how the founders did philanthropic deeds in Somerset and farther afield.

A family descendant, head of the trust that conserves and promotes the Clarks story, said the business prospered because of its ethical foundations. “Among the Quaker testimonies is honesty, and that ensures that you’re very honest in all your transactions,” she added. “Everyone trusted them. The family made some profit through the business. This allowed them to become charitable and campaign for votes for women. They were involved in the fight against slavery in the United States.”

A business archivist mentioned his favourite part of the new museum was a set of equipment from the Desert Boot manufacturing process, which was based at the Weston-super-Mare plant. The facility shut down a quarter of a century ago and the footwear are now made in the far east.

Crumplin commented: “Most of the workers that worked on that line did so for decades.” One worker was called after the ballet dancer because he worked so swiftly and gracefully between the two machines he operated. “They were so skilled at what they did.”

If the Wallabees and boots will appeal to music fans, detailed replicas of the brand’s shoe shops will evoke memories for many more people.

The museum’s director said: “In my view, people will be able to find themselves in the exhibit. Visitors will recall having their sized on the device so that their initial footwear were correctly fitted. It was a ceremony, a rite of passage.”

One of the displays includes her child’s first shoe, with a instant photo of her in the shop. “It’s precious to me,” she remarked. “It unlocks a box of memories.”