From Germany To London: Dr Martens Shoes
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009Dr Martens shoes have always been popular for a number of decades and have become a relevant and vital piece of footwear for a number of different cultures and movements. These different sub cultures saw Dr Martens Shoes as a way to identify who they were and to recognise those that were similar to them but how did this come to be?
A young German army doctor called Klaus Maertens created the initial boot after he hurt his ankle skiing. Dr Klaus Maertens had been skiing whilst on leave from fighting in WWII. He found that the boots and shoes he had made his feet hurt even more, so he decided to solve this problem by creating a more comfortable shoe of his own.
He created a boot that had a sole filled with air that provided comfort as well as absorbing some of the impact from walking and running. The boot also gave him support for the ankle, which reduced the amount of body weight applied to the ankle.
Dr Maertens didn’t have much luck selling his footwear in Germany until an old friend from University called Dr. Herbert Funck took an interest. Together they marketed and sold the shoes in Germany and became very successful with the shoes becoming a big hit among the female population. It wasn’t long until they started marketing the shoes internationally and British shoe manufacturers the Griggs Group bought the rights to the patent and the first British Dr Martins Shoes went on sale in 1960.
The British Dr Martens shoes were obviously named after their creator and as they entered the UK footwear market they were marketed as having bouncing soles, filled up with air and were given the AirWair tag they are now famous for.
Dr Martens boots instantly became a hit with the skin head movement and the UK Ska music scene. Throughout the decade the trend spread to Punk, New Wave and Grunge music, which helped to boost the footwear brand at home and abroad.
Dr Martens remained popular almost until the turn of the century when declining sales forced the company to move production to Thailand in order to reduce costs, although the vintage range is still manufactured in the United Kingdom. You can now purchase them everywhere with Dr Martens shoes in Bristol to a full range of sandals, boots and shoes in New York. The brand is now a very well known household name across the globe.