Before Dr. Martens co-starred in Rihanna music videos and littered catwalks in luxury variations, the German-born boots were a working-man’s shoe that became an icon of subculture.
The story stars in 1947, when Munich-based Dr. Klaus Martens and a colleague invented the trademark air-cushioned soles to improve army boots after Martens had injured his ankle. The doctor soon sold his patent to UK shoe manufacturer Griggs, who anglicized the name, devised an eight-eyelet design and added tell-tale yellow stitching. In 1961, the first pairs went into production and a British legend was born.
Originally intended for policeman, mail carriers and other blue-collar workers, the shoe was quickly co-opted by hooligans.
“The rule was you had to christen them by kicking someone with them,” photographer Gavin Watson told the Guardian in 2010. “It didn’t matter who, and if you got some blood on them that was even better.”
By the early ’70s, DMs were the footwear of choice for punk bands like the Clash, the Who and the Sex Pistols, and they later hit it big with grunge in the ’90s.
Although tough times in the early 2000s ceased UK production and saw the company nearly go bankrupt, the original factory reopened in 2007 to produce vintage styles and today proudly boast a “Made in England” collection. Five decades strong, they’re the kicks that keep on kicking.