A museum showcasing 200 years of Clarks shoemaking is opening in Somerset next month.
The Shoemakers Museum in Clarks Village in Street will feature hundreds of never-before-seen objects from sheepskin slippers to desert boots, school shoes to Britpop stagewear.
Set within a striking new building by Purcell Architecture, the museum combines a 16th-century manor house, a 17th-century barn and a modern glass extension to house four permanent galleries.
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Its opening on Monday, September 15, will coincide with the bicentenary of Clarks.
Rosie Martin, director of Shoemakers Museum, said: “This is a museum about people - their craft, their community and the shoes that became part of life’s biggest milestones. Whether you remember your first Clarks or you’re discovering their story for the first time, we can’t wait to welcome you.”
Visitors will be able to explore the evolution of Clarks from a homegrown Quaker business into a global fashion brand.
They will be able to visit recreated 1950s and 1980s shops, see the foot gauges that measured generations of growing feet, and hear the voices of former Clarks workers sharing their memories from the factory floor.
Original artwork, prototypes, promotional films and rarely seen archive material bring the Clarks story to life alongside a display of marine reptile fossils found in the layer of rock that runs under the Clarks factories.
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The museum will also have a café and a shop selling merchandise, books, prints and gifts inspired by the archive.
Shoemakers Museum is a project of the Alfred Gillett Trust, a Somerset charity dedicated to preserving and sharing the Clarks archive and legacy.
Cato Pedder, chair of the Alfred Gillett Trust, added: “The museum stands not just as a tribute to the Clark family legacy, but as a platform for future generations to explore creativity, community and cultural identity - through the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other.”
The museum will be open daily from 10am to 5pm.