When adherence to a style, a subculture or an artist crashes into politics it can throw up problems every bit as sharp as more conventional politics. Look no further than despairing Stone Roses fans faced with Ian Brown’s spiral of Covid-19 vaccine conspiracy-theory stupidities.
No subculture is homogeneous. Many people who think of themselves as mods or are influenced by it are also right wing. But as Paul Weller said to Shindig! magazine in 2018, “I don’t see how you can be a mod and be right-wing. It’s a contradiction in terms”. For those who take that view, it seems obvious and essential to the whole point: mod or modernism as a subculture has maintained a presence and influence precisely because its approach is forward-thinking. Its early combination of modern jazz, soul music, Italian tailoring, European culture, modern art, sharp design - developed and expanded over time - is fundamentally outward-looking.
Whether a fully-fledged modernist or simply someone drawn to those aesthetics, political conclusions should flow, as Weller’s remarks implied.
For many people with a strong attachment to modernism, the decision of the John Smedley clothing company to host a visit by Boris Johnson during the 2019 general election was a low point. John Smedley’s knitwear has been a staple of many mods’ wardrobes for a long time. The company even includes a page on mod culture on its site. To see that brand corralled into the Tory general election campaign tour was a blow for many modernists. The furious backlash on social media was an example of how politics and style can collide.
In the case of John Smedley the company had acted in a way that was an affront to some of its most loyal customers who had a shared sense of aggravation and dismay.
Clarks is a feature of British high streets. But its desert boots are also tied up with subculture style and are a staple for many mods. They were developed by Nathan Clark and the pattern-cutter Bill Tuxhill following the second world war. Finally proving a success in the USA, they then took off back in Europe.
You do not have to look far to find Clarks desert boots or imitations of them on the feet of countless shots of 1960s mods. Check out Ronnie Lane’s lovely tan boots here on the right.
They are everywhere in the imagery of the mods from that time and since.
By the end of the 1960s the boots had taken their place on the streets: the Guardian’s obituary of Nathan Clark reports he was delighted to see on news footage that Parisian students in desert boots were on the barricades of May ’68. (Perhaps that was not a mere style note – as a younger man he had also volunteered as an ambulance driver on the Republican side of the Spanish civil war).
Through to the mod revival and beyond the desert boot has held its place.
Clarks’ contribution to culture and music is not restricted to modernists in Britain. The boots have also featured within reggae and Jamaican culture. Bunny Lee once said “All the other shoes come and bow down at Clarks’s foot.”
From Vogue:
“When Clarks introduced the Wallabee (a boxier, moccasin-inspired version of the suede chukka) in 1967 and the Desert Trek (a center-stitched hiking shoe, instantly rechristened as ‘bankrobbers’ in Jamaica) in 1971, they practically flew off the stockists’ shelves straight onto the album covers of reggae’s most influential singers and DJs”
On the cover Guns Don’t Argue, Dennis Alcapone can be seen sporting Wallabees - and machine guns.
For anyone who loves Clarks’ iconic footwear, and where it sits in a culture that is so meaningful to so many people, what is happening at the Clarks factory in Somerset is a real disgrace.
Clarks workers at the Somerset factory have been on strike in a dispute over fire-and-rehire. This is the practice where employees are forced to take reduced terms and conditions, or face the sack. It is exactly this industrial tactic that was the subject of Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s recent bill, which would have outlawed it. Of course it was voted down by Tory MPs.
Clarks is pushing for the workforce to accept significantly reduced conditions, including a reduction in hourly wage, reduction in sick pay, reduction to redundancy pay to the statutory minimum, and removal of paid lunch breaks.
As their trade union, Community, has said:
“the workers most adversely impacted by these changes are those who have been employees for decades, sticking with the company through thick and thin. They have not received a pay increase for the last few years…Clarks is a company built by, for and with the people of Street. The proud legacy of the company can be found across the town. This makes their present day actions, following their recent sale to LionRock Capital, all the more dispiriting.”
You don’t have to wear Clarks desert boots, Wallabees or desert treks to be very angry about what Clarks are doing to their employees. But if you do and you follow through on the best of the politics of the mod subculture that embraced Clarks footwear, that it is a very strong additional reason to support the Clarks workers.
This is an edited version of an earlier post that was exclusive to paying subscribers. I’ve posted a public version of in order to add a little support of the Clark workers ahead of their demo on Saturday.
Clarks workers will be marching on Saturday morning at 11am – details here.
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