DR. MARTENS

When the Dr. Martens boot first catapulted from a working-class essential to a counter-cultural icon back in the 1960's. In Munich, Germany, Dr Maertens had a garage full of inventions, including a shoe sole almost literally made of air; in Northampton, England, the Griggs family had a history of making quality footwear and their heads were full of ideas. They met, like a classic band audition, through an advert in the classified pages of a magazine. A marriage was born, an icon conceived of innovation and self-expression. Together they took risks.

They jointly created a boot that defined comfort but was practical, hard-wearing and a design classic. At first, like some viral infection, the so-called 1460 stooped near to the ground, kept a low profile, a quiet revolution. But then something incredible started to happen. The postmen, factory workers and transport unions who had initially bought the boot by the thousand, were joined by rejects, outcasts and rebels from the fringes of society. At first, it was the working-classes; before long it was the masses.

The late 1960' s and 1970' s saw the boot adopted by – not thrust upon – nearly all the ‘tribes’: Mods, glam, punks, ska, psychobillies, grebos, Goths, industrialists… By the mid-1990' s, Dr. Martens had festered in the minds of youth without a single penny of ‘marketing spend’, longer than the majority of global brands had even existed. There is no comparison. This is not a brand; it is a way of thinking, a mode of expression.

The problem with ‘brands’ is that they dictate. They might offer the must-have item of the season, but they design it, shape it, form it and sell it. You have no say, other than handing over your money. Look at the word: ‘brand’. That’s what they do to cattle. Create your own brand. Today, the trademark carry on in the world from England to U.S.A and around Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Russia.Because although the tribes no longer stride, although individuality is the music for the masses, although fashion is just another way of defining yourself, the Dr. Martens ‘brand’ has come full circle, it is a blank canvas on which a generation can paint their personality.