British brand Clarks has brought the fashion and art worlds together for a cause.
The company has partnered with The HALO Trust, a British landmine-removal charity, to present Clarks: Rebooted, an artist initiative celebrating the 65th anniversary of Clarks’ iconic desert boot and its contribution to British street style. Proceeds from the sale of original artwork and companion art-inspired desert boots will be donated to The HALO Trust.
As part of an international tour, the Clarks: Rebooted exhibition is in New York from May 14-18. Pesented in the lobby of the citizenM hotel in Times Square, the show is open to the public.
Under the direction of art curator Filippo Tattoni-Marcozzi, Clarks tapped 14 Britain-based artists and product designers to create a one-off art piece reinterpreting the desert boot along with designing an accompanying limited-edition boot inspired by their work. Each artist was given a shoebox filled with the desert boot, materials, swatches and background about Clarks and The Halo Trust as a launching point.
According to Tattoni-Marcozzi, who, along with Clarks, worked with each participant on a design concept, noted that the artists come from a range of disciplines, from painting to furniture design. Among the participating artists are Lee Broom, a product and interior designer; Rene Gonzalez, a painter; Adam Ball, a painter; Alexandra LLewllyn, a board-game designer; and Gordon Cheung, a contemporary artist.
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A total of 250 pairs of boots were produced and are available for sale on Clarksrebooted.com for $300. Fifteen dollars from the sale of each pair will be donated to The HALO Trust. In addition, the profits from a special fundraising auction of the original artwork will also be donated. Online bidding, powered by Paddle8, will open three weeks prior to the gala event in London in November.
