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Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens, also known as Doc Martens, Docs, or DMs, is a British footwear and clothing brand. Although most known for its footwear, it also makes a range of accessories, including clothing and bags. The footwear is distinguished by its air-cushioned sole, upper shape, welted construction, and yellow stitching. The company's global head office and design studio is located in Camden Town, London.
Dr. Martens manufactures in the UK (at the brand's historic Cobbs lane factory in Wollaston, Northamptonshire), China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. According to the BBC, "the company still makes more than half of its revenues from the original 1460 boot and sister product the 1461 shoe. The numbers refer to the dates they were introduced — 1 April 1960 and 1961."
Klaus Märtens was a doctor in the German Army during World War II. After he injured his ankle while skiing in 1945, he found that his standard-issue army boots were too uncomfortable on his injured foot. While recuperating, he designed improvements to the boots, with soft leather and air-padded soles made of tyres. When the war ended and Germans looted valuables from their own cities, Märtens purchased leather from a shoemaker's shop. With that leather he made himself a pair of boots with air-cushioned soles.
In 1947, Märtens did not have much success selling his shoes until he met up with an old university friend Herbert Funck in Munich. Funck was intrigued by the new shoe design, and the two went into business that year in Seeshaupt, Germany, using discarded rubber shaped by moulds. The comfortable soles were a big hit with housewives, with 80 percent of sales in the first decade to women over the age of 40.
Sales had grown so much by 1952 that they opened a factory in Munich. In 1959, the company had grown large enough that Märtens and Funck looked at marketing the footwear internationally. Almost immediately, British shoe manufacturer R. Griggs Group bought patent rights to manufacture the shoes in the United Kingdom. The R. Griggs Group anglicised the company name to Dr. Martens. The heel was reshaped for a better fit and the trademark yellow stitching was added. The sole was formally trademarked.
The first Dr. Martens boot in the UK with an eight-eyelet cherry-red coloured smooth leather design became known as style 1460 and are still in production today. There are now many variations of this classic design which was introduced on 1 April 1960. The three-eyelet shoe was issued exactly one year later with the style number 1461. The original 1460 and 1461 remain the company's best-selling DMs. The Dr. Martens boots were made in their Cobbs Lane factory in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, where they continued to be made, in addition to production elsewhere, until at least 2018. Jane Schaffer, senior lecturer in footwear and accessories at the University of Northampton, says the classic range has "become iconic".
In addition a number of shoe manufacturers in the Northamptonshire area and further afield produced the boots under licence, as long as they passed quality standards. The boots were popular among workers such as postmen, police officers and factory workers. By the later 1960s, skinheads started to wear them, "Docs" or "DMs" being the usual naming, and by the late 1970s, they were popular among scooter riders, punks, some new wave musicians, and members of other youth subcultures. The shoes' popularity among politically right-wing skinheads led to the brand gaining an association with violence. Alexei Sayle sang the song "Dr. Martens' Boots" in a 1982 episode of the TV comedy The Young Ones.
In 1989, the Accent Group became the first manufacturer of Dr. Martens outside the UK, obtaining the rights to make them in Dunedin, New Zealand, which they did for several years. The boots and shoes became popular in the 1990s as grunge fashion arose. In late November 1994, a six-storey Dr. Martens department store was opened in Covent Garden in London which also sold food, belts, and watches. At this time the R. Griggs company employed 2,700 people, expected to earn annual revenue of £170 million, and could produce up to 10 million pairs of shoes per year.
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Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens, also known as Doc Martens, Docs, or DMs, is a British footwear and clothing brand. Although most known for its footwear, it also makes a range of accessories, including clothing and bags. The footwear is distinguished by its air-cushioned sole, upper shape, welted construction, and yellow stitching. The company's global head office and design studio is located in Camden Town, London.
Dr. Martens manufactures in the UK (at the brand's historic Cobbs lane factory in Wollaston, Northamptonshire), China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. According to the BBC, "the company still makes more than half of its revenues from the original 1460 boot and sister product the 1461 shoe. The numbers refer to the dates they were introduced — 1 April 1960 and 1961."
Klaus Märtens was a doctor in the German Army during World War II. After he injured his ankle while skiing in 1945, he found that his standard-issue army boots were too uncomfortable on his injured foot. While recuperating, he designed improvements to the boots, with soft leather and air-padded soles made of tyres. When the war ended and Germans looted valuables from their own cities, Märtens purchased leather from a shoemaker's shop. With that leather he made himself a pair of boots with air-cushioned soles.
In 1947, Märtens did not have much success selling his shoes until he met up with an old university friend Herbert Funck in Munich. Funck was intrigued by the new shoe design, and the two went into business that year in Seeshaupt, Germany, using discarded rubber shaped by moulds. The comfortable soles were a big hit with housewives, with 80 percent of sales in the first decade to women over the age of 40.
Sales had grown so much by 1952 that they opened a factory in Munich. In 1959, the company had grown large enough that Märtens and Funck looked at marketing the footwear internationally. Almost immediately, British shoe manufacturer R. Griggs Group bought patent rights to manufacture the shoes in the United Kingdom. The R. Griggs Group anglicised the company name to Dr. Martens. The heel was reshaped for a better fit and the trademark yellow stitching was added. The sole was formally trademarked.
The first Dr. Martens boot in the UK with an eight-eyelet cherry-red coloured smooth leather design became known as style 1460 and are still in production today. There are now many variations of this classic design which was introduced on 1 April 1960. The three-eyelet shoe was issued exactly one year later with the style number 1461. The original 1460 and 1461 remain the company's best-selling DMs. The Dr. Martens boots were made in their Cobbs Lane factory in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, where they continued to be made, in addition to production elsewhere, until at least 2018. Jane Schaffer, senior lecturer in footwear and accessories at the University of Northampton, says the classic range has "become iconic".
In addition a number of shoe manufacturers in the Northamptonshire area and further afield produced the boots under licence, as long as they passed quality standards. The boots were popular among workers such as postmen, police officers and factory workers. By the later 1960s, skinheads started to wear them, "Docs" or "DMs" being the usual naming, and by the late 1970s, they were popular among scooter riders, punks, some new wave musicians, and members of other youth subcultures. The shoes' popularity among politically right-wing skinheads led to the brand gaining an association with violence. Alexei Sayle sang the song "Dr. Martens' Boots" in a 1982 episode of the TV comedy The Young Ones.
In 1989, the Accent Group became the first manufacturer of Dr. Martens outside the UK, obtaining the rights to make them in Dunedin, New Zealand, which they did for several years. The boots and shoes became popular in the 1990s as grunge fashion arose. In late November 1994, a six-storey Dr. Martens department store was opened in Covent Garden in London which also sold food, belts, and watches. At this time the R. Griggs company employed 2,700 people, expected to earn annual revenue of £170 million, and could produce up to 10 million pairs of shoes per year.
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