Dr. Martens
Encyclopedia
Footwear
Footwear consists of garments worn on the feet, for fashion, protection against the environment, and adornment. Being barefoot is commonly associated with poverty, but some cultures chose not to wear footwear at least in some situations....
brand, which also makes a range of accessories – shoe care products, clothing, luggage, etc. In addition to Dr. Martens, they are known as Doctor Martens, Doc Martens, Docs or DMs. The footwear is distinct because of its unique air-cushioned sole
Sole (foot)
The sole is the bottom of the foot.In humans the sole of the foot is anatomically referred to as the plantar aspect. The equivalent surface in ungulates is the hoof.- Human sole :...
(dubbed Bouncing Soles), upper shape, welted construction and yellow stitching. They are one of the most popular and well-known footwear brands in the world, and are iconic to the fashion industry.
History
Klaus Märtens was a doctor in the German armyWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. While on leave in 1945, he injured his ankle while ski
Ski
A ski is a long, flat device worn on the foot, usually attached through a boot, designed to help the wearer slide smoothly over snow. Originally intended as an aid to travel in snowy regions, they are now mainly used for recreational and sporting purposes...
ing in the Bavarian Alps. He found that his standard-issue army boot
Boot
A boot is a type of footwear but they are not shoes. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle and extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece....
s were too uncomfortable on his injured foot. While recuperating, he designed improvements to the boots, with soft leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
and air-padded soles. When the war ended and some Germans looted valuables from their own cities, Märtens took leather from a cobbler
Shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...
's shop. With that leather he made himself a pair of boots with air-cushioned soles.
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
friend, Dr. Herbert Funck, in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in 1947. Funck was intrigued by the new shoe design, and the two went into business that year in Seeshaupt, Germany, using discarded rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
from Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
airfields. The comfortable and durable soles were a big hit with housewives, with 80% of sales in the first decade going 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
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
shoe manufacturer R. Griggs Group Ltd. bought patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
rights to manufacture the shoes in the United Kingdom. Griggs anglicized the name, slightly re-shaped the heel to make them fit better, added the trademark yellow stitching, and trademarked the soles as AirWair.
The first Dr. Martens boots in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
came out on 1 April 1960 (known as style 1460 and still in production today), with an eight-eyelet Ox Blood Smooth leather design. Originally Dr. Martens were made in their Cobbs Lane factory (which is still working today). In addition, a number of shoe manufacturers in the Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
area also produced DM's under license, as long as they passed quality standards. They were popular among workers such as postmen, police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
s and factory workers. By the early 1970s, skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
s started wearing them, and by the late 1980s, they were popular among punks
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
, some New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
musicians, and members of other youth subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
s.
Dr. Martens sponsored Rushden & Diamonds F.C.
Rushden & Diamonds F.C.
Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Formed by a merger of Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds in 1992, the club played in the Conference National following a short spell in the Football League at the start of...
from 1998 to 2003, and when a new main stand was built at Nene Park
Nene Park
Nene Park is a football stadium situated by Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England, along the bank of the River Nene, and holds 6,441, with 4,641 seated and 1,800 standing. The car park can hold 800 vehicles. From 1992 until 2011 it was the home ground of Rushden & Diamonds football club...
in 2001, it was named the Airwair Stand. In the 2000s, Dr. Martens were sold exclusively under the AirWair name, and came in dozens of different styles, including conventional black shoes, sandals and steel-toed boots.
On 1 April 2003, under pressure from declining sales, the Dr. Martens company ceased all production in the United Kingdom, with production moved to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. With this change also came the end of the company's vegan-friendly non-leather products, which were produced since the early 1990s. The switch to Chinese and Thai production led to Solovair
Solovair
Solovair is a brand of British-made boots and footwear, produced by NPS Shoes Ltd., which was established in 1881. NPS is based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, an area known for its shoe industry...
and Tredair
Tredair
Tredair is a brand of British-made footwear produced by White & Co., a shoe design company in Northamptonshire. The company, established as a factory from 1890 to 2003 making classic men's footwear, sports footwear, cricketing shoes, utility footwear to government specification during the early...
boots gaining popularity amongst the punk and skinhead subcultures, as these boots are similar to Dr. Martens and continue to be manufactured in the United Kingdom.
In 2007, Dr. Martens began producing footwear again in England, in the Cobbs Lane Factory in Wollaston
Wollaston, Northamptonshire
Wollaston is a large village in the borough of Wellingborough. in Eastern Northamptonshire, England. The name is derived from the Saxon "Wulfaf's Town" - named after a Saxon chief of that name.-Wollaston Today:...
. These products are part of the "Vintage" line, which the company advertises as being made to the original specs.
In April 2010, the Doc Martens 14-Hole black leather boot won two fashion awards at the 2010 Fashion Show in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; one for the 'most popular men's footwear in latest fashion' and the other for 'best counter-cultural footwear of the decade'.