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Dr Martens shoes have always been popular for a number of decades and have become an important statement in footwear for a number of different cultures and movements. These different sub cultures saw Dr Martens as a way to identify who they were and to recognise those that were similar to them but how did this come to be?

An educated German army doctor called Klaus Maertens created the initial boot after he injured his ankle skiing. Dr Klaus Maertens had been skiing whilst on leave from service in the Second World War. He found that the boots and shoes he already owned made his feet hurt even more, so he decided to solve this problem by creating his own shoe. He came up with 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 provided support for the ankle, which reduced the amount of body weight applied to the ankle.

Dr Maertens had trouble selling his footwear in Germany until an old University friend called Dr. Herbert Funck took an interest. Together they marketed and sold the shoes in Germany and became hugely successful with the shoes becoming a big hit among the female population. It wasn’t long until they started promoting 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 April of 1960.

The British Dr Martens shoes were obviously given their name after their creator and as they entered the UK market they were marketed as having bouncing soles, filled with air and were given the AirWair label they are now famous for. Dr Martens boots instantly became a hit with the skin head movement and the UK Ska music scene. This later 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 falling sales forced the footwear brand to move production to Thailand in order to reduce costs, although the vintage range is still manufactured in the United Kingdom. You can now find them everywhere with Dr Martens shoes in Cheltenham to a full range of boots, shoes and sandals in New York. The brand is now a very well known household name all around the globe.