Shoe-in

For most of us, Clarks shoes are embedded deeply into our childhood memories. From your first pair of sensible school shoes to the (original) Desert Boot mania, the Somerset shoemaker has long been an iconic part of British culture and is preparing to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2025.

Like many retailers, Clarks faced a challenging time during the pandemic, and the forced temporary closure of its stores around the world took its toll on the business.

Turnover almost halved – from £1.37bn to £775m over 12 months – and the company reported a loss of £162.2m in the year to 29 January 2021.

Early in 2021, Clarks formalised a partnership with Hong Kong-based LionRock Capital, resulting in a £100m investment in the business. In July 2022, international consumer brand operator, Viva China Holdings (‘Viva Group’) set up by former Olympic gymnast Li Ning, completed the acquisition of Clarks by purchasing the controlling stake of Clarks from LionRock Capital. And in January 2023, Viva Group bought out LionRock Capital and became the largest shareholder of Clarks.

Testing times

At around the same time, Jon Stafford FCCA joined the company in a strategic planning role after being laid off from the business travel division of Capita, which had been decimated by the pandemic.

As a Somerset native, Stafford had long had the Street-based company on his radar, so when the offer came he had no qualms about joining a retail business in the middle of a global crisis.

‘I joined in December 2020 as director of strategic financial planning during a time of real uncertainty,’ he says. ‘It’s fair to say that two and a half years on, it feels like a very different company, with positive movements in brand positioning, financial performance and morale.’

The future is looking much brighter for Clarks. In early 2022, the former New Balance executive Jon Ram was appointed CEO, and the company has entered a new phase, focusing on growing the business. The plan is to return turnover to pre-pandemic levels by 2025.

The re-opening of stores in the wake of the pandemic and a focus on marketing had a rapid impact, and the company reported an operating profit of £61.7m for the 2021/22 financial year.

‘It forced the company to become leaner so, while we haven’t recovered to pre-Covid levels of turnover yet, our profit margins are better than in the lead-up to the pandemic,’ says Stafford.

Stepping up

As director of strategic financial planning, assurance and treasury, Stafford is closely involved in implementing the firm’s strategic model. ‘We use a framework called OGSP – objectives, goals, strategies and plans – a framework on which we build strategy.’

The current focus is on rebuilding core markets in the UK and US, attracting premium customers, and capturing growth markets in China and Japan.

Clarks is very much a global business – it sells more than 33 million pairs of shoes a year, has stores in more than 80 countries and employs more than 6,000 people worldwide – but with a different brand profile in different regions. While it has long been seen as the go-to store for kids’ shoes in the UK, it is a luxury brand in Japan.

The past year or so has seen a marked cultural change at the company, says Stafford. ‘Clarks was always about the shoes you had as a child, and then you start shopping there again in your 50s and 60s; we didn’t have a lot of resonance in the market for anyone in their 20s or 30s.’

An innovative brand strategy, including savvy digital marketing, has changed all that, and Clarks is now firmly cool, with a high profile on TikTok (two million followers) and Instagram. Footballer Raheem Sterling has been recruited as a global ambassador, and the company has collaborated with Adidas, Pokémon, online game platform Roblox and singer Liam Gallagher. Clarks shoes are even available in the Metaverse.

‘My son is 27 and when I started working for Clarks he had no interest at all in my staff discount,’ Stafford says. ‘Now, he’s ringing me up asking if I can get him a pair of shoes he’s seen on Instagram. It’s a remarkable turnaround.’

Defence strategy

Stafford’s role is unusually wide and has expanded significantly since he joined the company. ‘I was brought in initially in a strategic planning role, but I’ve also taken on internal audit and stock integrity – at any one time we have around 20 million pairs of shoes in stock around the world – and, more recently, insurance and risk management, treasury and cash processing.

‘These are functions that may not traditionally be put together. I have multiple hats, and I often jump from one topic to another, from an internal audit meeting to a presentation from an insurance broker. But our CFO calls it “the defence layer” of the business.’

His long and varied career has prepared him well for such a wide-ranging role. He left school with minimal qualifications after family relocation disrupted his exams, before studying finance and accounting at college and gaining the ACCA Qualification.

‘My father was an accountant, but I didn’t necessarily plan to follow him into the profession,’ he says. ‘When I was young I probably wanted to be a dolphin trainer, but there’s not much call for that in Somerset!’

A career dominated by stints in local authorities and the travel sector prepared him well for retail, he says. ‘It’s easy sometimes to stick with what you know and what you’re comfortable with, but every time I’ve taken on something new it’s taken me outside of my comfort zone.’

For now, all eyes on are 2025 and Clarks’s significant anniversary. ‘We are still in a recovery phase to a certain extent and while the global economic situation and cost-of-living crisis is having an impact, we are very much on an upward trajectory. Not many companies reach their 200th birthday these days. It’s definitely something to celebrate.’