Dr. Martens

Dr. Martens originated in 1945 when German army doctor Klaus Märtens designed an air-cushioned boot to relieve his own foot injury sustained while skiing. Märtens patented the technology and licensed it to British shoemaker R. Griggs Group, which began producing the boots in Northamptonshire on April 1, 1960 — the 1460 boot, named for that date, remains the brand's most-recognised silhouette and has been in continuous production for 65 years. The cultural arc of Dr. Martens through the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s tracks the history of British subculture: workers, then skinheads, then punks, then goths, then Britpop. The brand has been worn by The Who, the Sex Pistols, Sinéad O'Connor, Joy Division, the Cure, and countless musical movements that found in its yellow stitching and air-cushioned sole an unmistakable signal of working-class authenticity. Eight-eyelet and ten-eyelet variants, the 1461 (three-eyelet shoe), the Jadon (chunky platform sole) — all are codified in the brand's permanent product canon. Dr. Martens was acquired in 2013 by private equity firm Permira and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2021. Most production has moved to Asia, though the Made in England Heritage line continues at the Wollaston factory in Northamptonshire. The company has weathered customer-base shifts, brand-positioning anxieties, and commercial cycles — and its yellow stitching remains one of fashion's most recognisable details.