These are solid shoes, capable of protecting the foot in any condition, which have become a symbol of the intensification of urban subcultures such as grunge, ska, punk, mod, skinhead, metal and new waver. The first to wear them were the London mods , a subculture born in the late 50s, who adopted Dr. Martens 1460 after Pete Townshend of The Who chose them as his footwear of choice. Later they were the most important component of the skinheads ' clothing, for them the shoe represents a claim to belonging to the proletariat, in contrast to that of the bourgeois and wealthy mods who in those years took the path of psychedelia and the hippy movement.
Dr. Martens, the most famous amphibians in history
Dr. Martens are not just shoes, but footwear with a unique and very particular history. In 1901, the company R. Griggs & Co. located in the north of England, produced hand-assembled shoes addressed to the miners of the British army . About forty years later, the German doctor Klaus Maertens , who in 1943 broke his foot in the Bavarian Alps, thought of a sole softened by an air cushion and a boot with soft leather. Dr. Maertens began selling his models after meeting Dr. Herbert Funck, an old university friend of his who was impressed by the design of the boots; the two opened a business using rubber scraps and old uniforms.
In 1959, Griggs & Co. purchased the German doctor's special patent for the air cushion, and opting for the anglicized name of Dr. Martens, made some substantial changes by redesigning the sole, rounding the heel, adding the yellow stitching between the sole and the upper and, above all, the back strap with the Air Wair brand and the motto With bouncing soles.
These are solid shoes, capable of protecting the foot in any condition, which have become a symbol of the intensification of urban subcultures such as grunge, ska, punk, mod, skinhead, metal and new waver. The first to wear them were the London mods , a subculture born in the late 50s, who adopted Dr. Martens 1460 after Pete Townshend of The Who chose them as his footwear of choice. Later they were the most important component of the skinheads ' clothing, for them the shoe represents a claim to belonging to the proletariat, in contrast to that of the bourgeois and wealthy mods who in those years took the path of psychedelia and the hippy movement.
In the late 1970s, punk celebrated the famous combat boots as a symbol of a musical movement and the punk/Dr. Martens duo became inseparable. In 1982, the English band The Clash wore the boots in the music video for Rock the Casbah. At the end of the period, there were other musical trends, such as grunge, that continued the culture of the famous shoe.
Dr. Martens later became a symbol of belonging for many cultures, grouped under the term underground . They then experienced a period of decline between the nineties and the early 2000s, regaining popularity above all thanks to their diffusion in the fashion system . Supermodels such as Agyness Deyn show off the famous boot and many stylists collaborate on new models such as Jean-Paul Gaultier and Yohji Yamamoto. The journey from the rainy streets of London to today has not been short, but their silhouette that speaks of rebellion , belonging , identification , has remained unchanged.
These are solid shoes, capable of protecting the foot in any condition, which have become a symbol of the intensification of urban subcultures such as grunge, ska, punk, mod, skinhead, metal and new waver. The first to wear them were the London mods , a subculture born in the late 50s, who adopted Dr. Martens 1460 after Pete Townshend of The Who chose them as his footwear of choice. Later they were the most important component of the skinheads ' clothing, for them the shoe represents a claim to belonging to the proletariat, in contrast to that of the bourgeois and wealthy mods who in those years took the path of psychedelia and the hippy movement.