From the Clark's website:
Our story began almost 200 years ago when Cyrus and James Clark made a slipper from sheepskin off-cuts. At the time it was ground-breaking; a combination of invention and craftsmanship that's remained at the heart of what we do. And whilst now, as always, every pair of our shoes begins with a last carved by hand from a single block of hornbeam, advanced construction techniques, technologies and contemporary materials help us deliver perfection tailor-made for the modern world.
Ever since we began crafting shoes back in 1825, we’ve used materials we believe in. Durable, comfortable, and with a long life, we use leather for its incredible natural properties - which we believe also make it the most conscious choice when it comes to minimising the footwear industry’s effect on the earth.
We are fully responsible for the journey of our leather. We only use by-product leather from the food industry, which would otherwise end up as waste, and our suppliers must follow our stringent environmental, animal welfare and supply chain policies. We’re always working on improving the transparency of our supply chain, to make sure we’re holding our suppliers - and ourselves - accountable.
The Benefits Of Leather
Made To Last
No material delivers durability and longevity quite like leather. Leather shoes are an investment - and buying less, but better, helps to lighten our impact on the earth. Easy to care for and repair, it also ages beautifully, for shoes that only improve over time.
Comfort
Our customers deserve reliable comfort. As a natural material, leather allows skin to breathe, as well as shaping to feet for the most individual, feel-good fit and feel.
Recyclability
Leather can be repurposed over and over to help prevent it ending up in landfill. At the very end of its life, leather will biodegrade, too.
Clarks Responsible Leather
When you see the ‘Responsible Leather’ logo or hear us talk about responsibly sourced leather, you can be confident that these shoes have been created with extra care for the planet.
We are founding members of the Leather Working Group (LWG), an independent collective who make sure tanneries around the world are assessed to a common set of standards and promote sustainable environmental and business practices within the leather industry.
Our responsible leather is sourced from tanneries that work to these LWG standards by actively reducing waste and decreasing their energy and water use - or our leather is recycled or regrind.
We’re working to source more of our leather in these ways, to lighten our environmental footprint as much as possible - and we’re exploring more sustainable initiatives in our supply chain, too.
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