The Bite Magazine - Spring 2016 - Issue 15

From beginning life as a normal work boot to becoming a symbol of rebellious self-expression, Jada Brookes discovers the story behind Dr. Martens and explore their SS16 collection. D octor Mar tens, Doc Martens, Docs or DMs as they are commonly known are perhaps best associ- ated with the skinheads of the late 1960s or the punks of the late 1980s. However, the story behind this iconic footwear brand began with Klaus Märtens, a doctor in the German army during the Second World War, who injured his ankle whilst skiing in the Bavarian Alps and found that his stand- ard army boots were too uncomfortable to wear. In order to solve this problem, Märtens decided to make some improve- ments to the boots using soft leather and air-padded soles made of tyre. After the war ended, while some Germans recov- ered valuables from their own cities, the army doctor took some leather from a cobbler’s shop and used it to make himself a pair of boots with air-cushioned soles. Success in spreading news of his newly-designed boots did not happen immediately. It was when he met up with an old university friend, Dr. Herbert Funck in 1947 and the two men went into business together using discarded rubber from Luftwaffe airfields that Märtens’ boots became a hit, especially with housewives. On 1st April 1960, the first Dr. Martens boots hit the shores of Britain as style 1460 with an eight-eyelet oxblood-coloured smooth leather design. They were sold with the heels slightly re-shaped to make them fit better, the trademark yellow stitching and the soles renamed AirWair by British shoe manu- facturer R. Griggs Group. It may seem ironic how a pair of boots that started out as modest workwear worn by postmen, police officers and factory workers would one day turn into a symbol of rebellious self-expression. It is true that Dr. Martens appeals to people who have their own individual style yet share a united spirit as well as those who possess a proud sense of self-expression. On a stylistic level, Dr. Martens’ simple silhouettes allow their wearers to adopt the boots and shoes as part of their own individual and distinctive style while on a practical level, their famous durability and comfort make them the ideal footwear for the unforgiving world of gigs and street fashion.Whilst Dr. Martens’ boots were initially founded in 1947, it could be said that it was actually born in the 1960s thanks to the unprecedented wave of change, new ideas, cultural upheaval and social evolution that happened in Britain. This was the decade that witnessed an extravagant and often exotic fashion that took the functional Dr. Martens work boot along for the ride but as the brand says, “Dr. Martens always kicked against the norm.” Soon after these boots were picked up by the “early multi-cultural ska-loving skinheads”, Pete Townsend of The Who became the first high profile individual to wear them as a symbol of his own working class pride and rebel- lious attitude. As the change continued into the 1970s, a decade of glam punk, Two Tone and early goths that saw “British youth culture mushroom into countless distinct tribes”, the boot became a fierce symbol of self-expression. The 1980s brought its share of anti-government riots and social resentment with the youth culture rising up from the streets, with yet more highly visual and individual tribes such as Psychobilly, Grebo and scooter boys. While Dr. Martens expanded their range to include floral eight-hole boots for girls, US Hardcore musicians touring the UK brought pairs of DM’s back to the West Coast and inadvertently started a following of the brand by America’s subculture. More music genre such as biteshoes A of Self-Expression