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MEMORIES:
necoradio remembers...I don't care if they are in style or not ...not giving up my docs. I'll be fashionably unfashionable until ... More »
Posted on 12/30/08
Manufacturer:
It all started with a tumble on the ski slopes back in 1949. That was when a gentleman by the name of Dr. Maerten injured his foot and started thinking about better boots.
With a certain Dr. Funck, Dr. Maerten developed a new kind of sole. Taking two layers of rubber polyurethane and sandwiching a layer of air in between, the partners marketed shoes made with the new soles as orthopedic footwear aimed, for one, at hardworking housewives.
Bill Griggs purchased the rights to the cushioned sole in 1958 and kicked it up a notch. His new version - renamed “Dr. Martens” and given the model number 1460 after the date of first production (April 1, 1960) – was an immediate hit. Its superior craftsmanship and high quality made it the ankle boot of choice for postmen and other footsore workers throughout the decade. Durability was key for these workingmen, so the manufacturers used a special heat-fusion method to attach the soles to the boot.
The airwalk sole made Docs comfortable, and the eight eyelets and yellow stitching made them recognizable. In the late 1960’s Dr. Martens crossed from the working classes into a kind of fashionability when the youths of the skinhead movement adopted them, and after Pete Townsend of The Who began to wear Docs they became part of the regular uniform of the mods. In 1975 you couldn’t miss the gigantic, twelve-eyed, 54-inch pair of DM’s Elton John wore as the Pinball Wizard in Tommy, The Who’s rock-opera movie.
Dr. Martens kept on stomping as the decade neared its end, with punk bands from The Damned and The Buzzcocks to The Clash (“The Only Band That Matters”) sporting the boots onstage and off and their fans following suit. Along with the latest musical revolution, Docs crossed the Atlantic, bringing the street cred bands needed, with West Coast groups like Black Flag lacing them on.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, the Who-fueled movie Quadrophenia inspired a revival of the early “1460” Doc Marten style – now in cherry-red – among the latest generation of parka-wearing, Vespa-driving mods. And the story didn’t end there – far from it. Dr. Martens proved versatile as well as fashionable. Through the decades the popularity of the ever-trendy boots hasn’t faded. Workingfolks still wear them; so do fashionistas. As durable and comfortable as ever, over 10 million pairs come out of the factories every year, with daily sales of 40,000 pairs of low 3-eye shoe, knee-high 20-eye boots, and of course the original 8-eye version.
The brand has kept up with the times, offering its several styles in a wide variety of colors and fabrics for every member of the family, including “Baby Docs” and even an all-synthetic boot for the strictly vegetarian consumer. Seems there’s no end to the story that started with Dr. Maerten and his fateful ski trip. Practical and still trendy, Doc Martens just keep on truckin’.
