Clarks Originals | Wallabee | Desert Boot

CLARKS ORIGINALS HAS THE HERITAGE.

Like all good footwear, a sign of true quality is how the brand seeps into the subculture without a trace, before anonymously becoming a hallmark of quality and identity. When it comes to Clarks Originals it’s more of a case of if you know, you know. Perhaps the most famous Original's template is that of the Clarks Wallabee which has reinvented itself throughout the years in various circles.

We’ve witnessed the Wallabee rise throughout the American hip-hop scene of the 1990s with the likes of Wu-Tang Clan and Snoop Dogg all wearing the staple shoe worn in a looser, relaxed style. In the UK the Wallabee has close associations to the Brit Pop and Mod movements with the likes of Liam Gallagher, and Richard Ashcroft of the verve sporting the Originals desert boot. Gallagher even going on to make a variation of the Clarks desert boot with a collaboration with his clothing brand, Pretty Green.

More recently, the full range of Clarks Originals has experienced somewhat of a resurgence across premium retailers teaming up with the likes of END. Clothing, Supreme, Hypebeast, and Oi Polloi to reinvent the shoe that has its roots in authentic suede design and that classic gum sole. The Clarks Wallabee will always be a flag bearer for authentic British design as well as a symbol of identity among many countercultural movements.

The shoe that was produced in 1967 to rival a popular moccasin found its way into the Rude boy movements in Kingston, Jamaica, Beatnik and Mod movements in the UK, the Parisian riots of 1968 as well as popular TV series Breaking Bad.

The brand that started in Somerset in 1825 has grown to possess over 1000 stores across the globe with their shoes an important part of fashion and footwear culture for many of us.