'How did Dr. Martin become a culture beyond shoes?

 Dr. Martin is famous for shoes that make you feel bad when you put them on for the first time, including all over your feet and blisters.

Still, when I go out on the streets, there are not a few people wearing Dr. Martin.

It's mainly pretty and sturdy, which is why it's so popular.

However, it is difficult to define Dr. Martens simply as 'pretty and strong shoes'.

Because Dr. Martin was a brand that was a symbol of various youth cultures that dominated the past decades.

 

Birth of Dr. Martin:

The birth of Dr. Martin goes back about 77 years from now.

In 1945, a surgeon named Klaus Martin lived in Munich, Germany.

One day, while skiing, I injured my leg.

He tried to put on his usual military boots again, but he couldn't because he was uncomfortable.

Needless to say, military boots at that time were too stiff and the soles were too hard.

As a result, the shock absorption was not good.

In response, Klaus Martin even made his own boots that were comfortable to wear until he recovered his injured leg.

The part that paid particular attention was the sole.

He developed a sole with 'air cushion' using rubber discarded at Luftwaffe airfields.

Of course, it's hard to say that it's soft compared to today's functional sneakers.

It was much more comfortable compared to many other boots made in 1945.

 

Market demand for Dr. Martin:

 

The market demand for 'comfortable boots' was considerable.

Workers, such as postmen and gardeners, who had previously suffered from hard and uncomfortable boots, started to wear Dr. Martin.

Because it can protect the joints, there were many cases where Dr. Martin was purchased for medical purposes.

In particular, in the first 10 years, 80% of sales came from female consumers as housewives wore Dr. Martin a lot.

In 1952, less than 10 years after starting the business, Dr. Martin opened a new factory in Munich and continues to thrive.

Although Dr. Martin was born in Germany, it was actually England where flowers bloomed.

At the time, there was a family business called 'Griggs group' in Northampton shire, England.

Northampton shire has long been the center of the footwear and work boot industry.

The Griggs Group:

The Griggs Group has been a family business that has been making boots for three generations. The management of the Griggs group accidentally sees Dr. Martin in a shoe trade magazine, which has emerged as a popular product in neighboring Germany.

In particular, it is said that Chairman Bill Griggs was very interested in the 'Air Cushion' technology developed by Dr. Martin.

The Griggs group eventually bought Dr. Martin's patent rights.

Boots production begins in earnest.

On April 1, 1960, Griggs Group introduced the first product to which Dr. Martin's air cushion technology was applied.

[caption id="attachment_4419" align="alignright" width="300"] Dr. Martin "1460" boot model[/caption]

It is the 1460 model that can be said to be the symbol of Dr. Martin.

The 1460 model became very popular in England.

Like German consumers, British consumers were fed up with stiff, hard boots.

However, up to this point, the brand Dr. Martin did not represent a culture or became an icon.

It was nothing more than a worker's shoe, loved because it was cheap, comfortable, and durable.

*At the time, a pair of Dr. Martin was very cheap, about £2.

Then, when did Dr. Martin become a brand that symbolizes youth culture?

 

Dr. Martin a "symbol of youth culture":

 

In England in the 1960s there were people called 'mods'.

The mods were a group of young people who maintained a rebellious attitude toward the older generation. It had a few characteristics, like listening to rock or jazz and riding a scooter.

Groups of people who live in the same era and share similar sensibilities and cultures usually create symbols to recognize each other.

Because of that, the mods used Dr. Martin as an item to symbolize their identity.

The popular rock band 'The Who' played a big role in the mods choosing Dr. Martin as their symbol.

Rock music and related culture, popular with young people in Britain at the time, used to be seen as resistance to the mainstream and the older generation.

Among them, The Who was a band that was popular with young people for their loud sound and rebellious attitude.

Dr. Martin, a fashion among young people:

It can be said that it is a band that represents the aforementioned mod style and is an idol of British subculture.

Pete Townsend, the guitarist of The Who, became a hot topic when performing in 1967 wearing Dr. Martin's 1460.

From this point on, it became fashionable to wear Dr. Martin among young people.

It is said that the reason he loved Dr. Martin was to show his pride and rebellion against the working class.

Since then, Pete Townsend continues to show his love for the brand, including writing lyrics about Dr.

From this point on, Dr. will be supported by various young people who go beyond the mods and enjoy the subculture.

Dr. Martin, an act of expressing pride in the culture:

In the 70s, people who followed punk, glam, and goth, which were sub-genres of rock music, liked to wear Dr. Martin.

In the 80s, young people who followed subcultures such as psychobilly, greave, and scooter wore Dr.

Even in the 90s, musicians and fandoms from the Britpop scene, which were popular in the British music scene at the time, enjoyed wearing Dr.

 

Around the same time, in Seattle, USA, across the sea, grunge rock bands such as Nirvana wore Dr. Martin and enjoyed worldwide popularity.

The cultures listed above have several things in common.

The first is that most of it has to do with music (especially rock music).

The second is that it was a fringe culture enjoyed by young people.

In short, these boots were a medium to feel a sense of mutual communion where music and subculture were present.

Wearing Dr. Martin was an act of expressing pride in the culture they created.

 

 

 Fall of Dr. Martin:

 

Dr. Martin has not always been successful.

As the 90's and the 2000's enter, Dr. Martin's dark age begins.

The market situation was going quite unfavorably for Dr. Martin.

The popularity of boots has waned, and competitors have started to produce boots with designs similar to those of Dr.

It lost £20 million in 2001.
Sales were down 20% year-over-year.

The following year, 2002, sales fell by 30% compared to the previous year.

In 2003, it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

In the end, Griggs, the parent company, decided to close factories in several areas, including Northampton shire, Leicestershire, and Somerset, England, because of this About 1,000 workers at the Dr. Martens factory in England lost their jobs overnight.

Resurrection of an icon:

Dr. Martin laid the foundation for his resurgence when he collaborated with high fashion designers.

Designers such as Jimmy Choo, Vivienne Westwood, Jasper Conran, and Ola Kylie, for example, collaborated with Dr.

They mainly drew attention by reinterpreting the 1460 boots, which can be said to be the symbol of Dr. Martin, in their own style.

Jean-Paul Gaultier, a famous French fashion designer, is also presenting to the world a work in collaboration with Dr. Martin in 2009.

"Doctor Martin reminds me of London and the punk movement"
"I always went to London in the '70s"
“I loved the freedom it felt there. Dr. Martin was part of it.

Jean-Paul Gautier said this about his collaboration with Dr. Martin.

 

Rise again of an icon:

Decades have already passed, but this British icon was remembered by world-renowned designers as a brand that symbolizes youth culture and freedom.

Although times have changed, the legacy and values ​​that the brand has built up in the meantime remain the same.

In addition, this brand is spurring global efforts that have been neglected in the past and focusing on digital sales to improve performance.

As a result, sales from 160 million pounds in 2013 more than quadrupled to about 1.67 trillion pounds in 2020.

Thus, in the late 2010s, it continued to grow every year and entered its second heyday.
I enjoyed it.

After gaining momentum, in 2021, last year, it went public on the London Stock Exchange.

The rebellious son of the times and Dr. Martin who redefines toughness

In fact, most of the youth subcultures that were almost one body with Dr. Martin have long since been pushed out of the trend.

Dr. Martin currently creating bad identity?

A representative thing worth mentioning is the campaign called Tough as you, which started a few years ago.

The goal of this campaign is simply to 'redefine what it means to be tough'.

But why did This brand suddenly set out to redefine 'toughness'?

Rebellion, toughness, their own league... As I said before, when you think of Dr. Martin, because the images that come to mind are usually these.

As a result, the culture surrounding these boots sometimes moved in a rather bad way.

In fact, in the UK in the 1970s, skinheads with violent tendencies liked to wear Dr. Martin.

Because of this, there are people who remember these shoes as the 'skinhead combat boots'.

Dr. Martens through the Tough as You campaign
“What does it mean to be tough in 2020?” asked the question. And I started to illuminate the stories of people who overcame hardships and adversity with their 'toughness'..

Dr. Martin a "culture beyond shoes":

If you think about it, Dr. Martin was not a fancy and luxurious brand by birth, but it was a symbol of Underdog and a brand that showed off their culture and identity nicely.

Considering that it is a brand that has always been with youth culture, it seems like a Dr. Martin-like move.

Hot shoes after 50 years:

Dr. Martin's representative model, the 1460 boots, has hardly changed in design since it was first released.

The interesting thing is that more than half of Dr. Martin's sales come from the 1460 boots and the 1461 boots, a shoe version.

Celebrities like Billy Irish, Nicki Minaj, and Miley Cyrus all love the Dr. Martin 1460.

Even though it has been 50 years since the British rock band 'The Who', who made Dr. Martin popular, first wore 1460 boots.

It's not obsolete, but recognized as an asset.

"Doctor Martin is a culture"
"Dr. Martin maintains a youthful connection with a new culture." Dr. Martin's executives
I say this.

The reason this icon became a heritage rather than outdated, and the reason why it was able to establish itself as a boot that enjoys global popularity beyond a British local brand, is probably because, as they say, Dr. Martin has become more than just a shoe, but a culture.