Page 22: of Marine News Magazine (August 2023)

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Feature

Comms

DAVID CLARK

COMPANY:

A A S SN MERICAN UCCESS TORY avid Clark Company is best known within the and manufacturing boat crew communication solutions marine market for its wireless and digital head- for a variety of workboats, e.g., patrol boats, ? re/rescue set workboat crew communication systems – craft, and offshore service vessels.

Dthe Series 9900 Wireless Marine Headset Sys- But you may not know that David Clark Company start- tem and the Series 9100 Digital Marine Headset System. ed out as a knitting factory for making men’s and women’s

The company has over 20 years of experience designing specialty garments and evolved into a leading provider of critical communication solutions for high-noise environ- ments and leading-edge aerospace crew protective equip- ment. Here’s how it happened.

So, who was David Clark?

How does a small garment knitting company in Worces- ter, Mass., end up becoming an iconic brand and indelible part of aviation and aerospace history? The answer is largely due to one man. A man who left school to go to work at the age of ? fteen. A man who earned no diplomas after grammar school. A man who, unlike some titans of business today, shunned the spotlight and desired to stand in the shadow of his accomplishments, preferring to bestow credit upon those that “did the real work.” That man? David Myron Clark.

David Clark Company was incorporated in Massachu- setts in 1935 after developing a new concept of knitting two-way stretch fabric for men’s and women’s specialty undergarments. The knitted blanks were sold to corset manufacturers for sewing, ? nishing and resale. Despite be- ing short of cash and having the top of its building blown off by a hurricane in 1938, the company persevered. In time, a total of six patents for knitting were applied for and granted. In 1939, David Clark Company developed and patented a unique supporting undergarment for men

All images: David Clark Company 22 | MN August 2023