Scary, Heavy Boots
Dr. Marten’s have become a style staple of just about every young person in America and beyond in the last 20 years. Self-proclaimed as “...one of the most culturally relevant brands of the modern era,” Dr. Martens is a brand with awareness of its significance to fashion culture. While the brand is extremely well known, much of the brand’s origin and complicated history is censored for their modern consumer. Understanding history is important in holding brands accountable for being better and promoting betterment to their consumers
The Dr. Martens brand existed long before it held that name, as boots for the local working class. Made originally in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, the brand was a family business. Beginning in 1901 their business thrived on the local, but did not stretch beyond workwear, and did not stretch beyond their local population. All of that changed in 1945, with the introduction of Dr. Klaus Maertens and his infamous “air-cushioned sole” that became such an iconic component to the Dr. Martens brand.
Dr. Klaus Maertens was 25 in 1945 and had been recently discharged from the German military as a war doctor. This is something often discounted in historical statements from the company, as his side during the war is a regrettable origin story. He actually created the soles because he thought the military sanctioned boots were uncomfortable, and many of the prototypes of his shoes were actually made from rubber using rubber from Luftwaffe airfields to help them with the job, as outlined in Dr. Martens: The Story of an Icon, by Martin Roach. From a modern perspective, at least to me, this seems like an outlandish idea for someone to go into a business deal with. But the family in England were looking to spread their wings, and Maertens had the ability to help them do so.
As the brand grew, it was adopted by counterculture. The company never intended this, they thought the shoes would be worn by old women, but then the skinheads of the UK had a different idea. They saw the ability to look very different from the popular put-together mods of the 60s. These skinheads eventually developed into the punks, and both countercultures used their place as poor, working-class white people to be racist and homophobic. Not all skinheads were racist, and not all punks were either, but when it is an idea that many of the loudest in those groups believed, it became what they were known for. All the while, they had Dr. Martens on their feet.
Eventually, beyond those initial adoptions, the shoes were used for just about every movement outside of the mainstream. Often closely tied to music, they began to represent more than just the angry white working-class but represented those who were revolutionaries in general. There were counter-movements within the punk and skinhead scenes like SHARPs or Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice. These developed as early as the ’80s and have only become more significant majorities since. Many punks dawn anti-nazi propaganda to prove to the average person that they hold being anti-racist as a very important aspect of their personal identities.
The average 2022 consumer of the boots does not have to worry about people assuming they have any white supremacist ties while wearing the shoes. That is one great part about the brand having a very wide impact as a fashion staple of just about every style now. Regardless, there are some things to be conscious of, like ladder lace culture. If you see someone with white or red ladder laces, they are white supremacists. The company is so aware of this that they don't sell any red or white laces for their shoes. If you see purple, the wearer is in the LGBTQ community. If you see yellow, the wearer is anti-racist. Reclaiming countercultural narratives of the working class in recent years has helped these boots maintain their status as a cultural symbol, in the mainstream, and in the areas it isn’t.
Maddie Juarez