THE STRANGE HISTORY OF DR. MARTENS BOOTS

ign="center">himself was a physician in the German army
Almost from the moment British shoeduring World War II, and the shoes that bear his
manufacturer R. Griggs Group launched the Dr.name were originally manufactured in post-war
Martens 1460 model boot on April Fools DayGermany. Dr. Maertens’ business partner
1960, the footwear was popular with Britishwas Dr. Herbert Funck. The R. Griggs Group
postmen, police officers, and factory workers.wisely decided against using Dr. Funck’s
The 1460 was an eight eyelet, cherry-red, Napaname on the boots for obvious reasons.
leather design.Dr. Martens also became associated with some
In less than a decade, the Dr. Martens 1460 (somusic subcultures originating in the U.S. One of the
named for the date of their introduction, using themost prominent examples of this was the grunge
convention of day/month/year) boots hadband Nirvana, which helped popularize blue collar
become popular with the British working classchic uniforms of flannel lumberjack shirts and Dr.
subculture of the skinheads. Over the years,Martens boots.
skinhead culture became more violent and racist,By the start of the nineties, Dr. Martens had
and Dr. Martens boots became associated withbecome wildly popular with young women, with
soccer hooligans.some brides even wearing white patent leather
In the early seventies, some young soccer fanspairs of the boots to their weddings. As a result,
began painting team colors on their boots,a bridal version of Dr. Martens was introduced in
although boots painted white were more popular.gold with white lace.
It was also common for soccer hooligans toDr. Klaus Martens, when he first created a pair of
remove the leather from the toes of their bootsboots with air-filled soles to relieve the pain in his
to expose steel toecaps for additional intimidation.own feet, surely had no idea that a multitude of
U.K. police forces determined that boots withsubcultures would adopt them and customize
exposed steel toecaps were “anthem as part of their uniform. There can be no
offensive weapon” and barred themdoubt that he never imagined that thousands of
from soccer matches. With soccer hooligansyoung women would wear the boots bearing his
continuing to use their Dr. Martens to batter fansname to their own weddings.
of opposing teams, police developed a new tacticKent Basson is the originator of
of insisted that anyone wearing Dr. MartensoddShoeFinder.com, free online websites that help
remove the laces from the boots, reasoning thatmismatched footwear. If you are looking for
loose boots could do less damage. This move wasdifferent sized feet,different sized shoes,polio
met with fans’ smuggling in spare laces,survivors group,diabetes foot problems,foot length
with hooligans sometimes enlisting their girlfriendsdifference,post-polio syndrome,foot deformity
to sneak the laces into stadiums.mismatched footwear. For more detail visit:
The problems with soccer hooligans using their Dr.Report this article
Martens to kick the fans of opposing teamsThis article is free for republishing
became so severe that fans were sometimesSource:
forced to remove their boots for the duration ofRepublish this article
games. Boots could not be reclaimed until
opposition fans left the stadium, at which pointAsk a Question About this Article
the barefoot fans would dash to reclaim their>> Effects of Drinking Milk That's Not From
boots or, hopefully, a newer pair previouslyCows...
belonging to another.>> Body camp, Va
Dr. Martens boots also became associated with>> Seth Burrell
British nationalism, which is ironic in that Dr. Klaus>> Dr. Oz What can I do for bags under
Maertens (The first “e” wasmy eyes?
dropped to Anglicize the name of the boots.)