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Dr. Martens is the stuff of legends. It all began near Munich, Germany in 1945 when Dr. Klaus Maertens injured his foot in a skiing accident in the Bavarian Alps. To make walking easier during the healing process, he designed a shoe with an air-cushioned sole. Using old rubber tires, he constructed soles that had air trapped within closed compartments. He showed his prototype to his engineer/inventor friend, Dr. Herbert Funck, and together they decided to develop and produce the shoes. Not only did the shoe solve the doctor’s immediate problem, but it also started to sell well in Germany.

By 1959 the two decided that they needed a company to produce and distribute the shoes, then called Dr. Maertens, in other parts of the world. At first, many manufacturers rejected the concept of an ‘air cushioned sole’ as a short-lived gimmick. However, the R. Griggs Group, located in the village of Wollaston in England, decided to go along with the idea by creating the first work boot with the revolutionary sole. On the first of April 1960, the first cherry red eight-eyelet work boot was produced and named 1460 (1/4/60). To sell the brand name better in England, the name was anglicized to Dr. Martens. The range was branded AirWair and the rest is history.

From 1960 when the original boot was created, Dr. Martens have played a large part in the history of subcultures. From mods, skins, punk, ska to the recent revival, the 1460 boot is clearly a modern day classic.

Mods
Mods emerged originally from Soho clubs in central London and quickly became one of the first youth subcultures.

Beautiful Italian suits and coiffured hair made the delicately presented mod the ultimate rival of the greasy bike-riding rockers. With this came the first great youth culture clash, fought at various UK seaside venues. The mod look has stood the test of time, with a hardy band of diehards never allowing the image to become extinct.

The late 70’s/early 80’s saw a resurgence of mods. Worshipping cherry reds, loafers, long green parkas, and scooters bedecked with mirrors and furry tails. These new mods drew on a Quadrophenia for their imagery, hated the second wave of skinheads and possessed an intense pride in their sartorial elegance.

Skins
Sprouting from a working class (probably East End of London) pride, these tough street kids evolved from the splintering of the late Mods movement.

Sartorially proud of their working class roots, the original skinhead was a multi-cultural, politically broad-minded, and fashion-aware individual. Favorite music was raggae, soul and ska and some key artists included Desmond Dekker, Max Romeo, and the Pyramids. Their choice of immaculate clothing and invariably Dr. Martens boots was the ultimate anti-fashion statement and a badge of both power and pride. Above all else, skinheads were obsessed with their presentation.

The 70’s and 80’s saw the look hi-jacked by right-wing racists, and for many years was a fashion pariah. However, towards the end of the 90’s, the closely cropped look has been championed by a whole new generation of high profile global celebrities, bringing skinhead style back into the mainstream once again.

Punk
Anti-establishment, anti-mainstream, anti-everything. punk existed to destroy everything that preceded it, in a blaze of Mohawks, DIY fashion, abrasive music and nihilist attitudes.

The history books tell us that punk broke in 1976, but it was actually at the tail end of 1975, 6th November to be precise when the Sex Pistols gig was cut short only after five songs. That marked the beginning of a phenomenon that changed popular culture beyond recognition.

With punk came the first independent record labels, some of the best graphic and fashion designers of modern times. Painted DM’s, parent-baited TV appearances, and above all, ear-splittingly brilliant music. People all over the globe were vulnerable to punk’s appeal, which across the decades has infected almost every aspect of modern culture. The most incendiary of art forms, the ultimate subculture.

Ska
Born of inner city decay, the smart suits, shined shoes and pork pie hats of 2-tone represented racial, multi-cultural styles, and an accomplished music legacy. Deeply rooted in Jamaican history.

Ska was originally a Jamaican dance music that emerged in the late 50’s and prospered in the early 60’s Kingston scene, a mixture of trafitional Jamaican mento, jazz, ya-ya, and calypso, as well as some North American influences. This melting pot of music was first imported to the UK via the West Indian immigrant population. On arrival here, it was also known as blue beat or Jamaican blues.

From these early incarnations evolved first rock steady and then raggae in the late 60’s. The highest profile ska enjoyed in the UK was during the 2-tone craze in the early 80’s when bands such as The specials and The Selecter spoke out about the lengthy unemployment lines, iner-city turmoil and youth despair. The movement found an unlikely home in the grim, grey midlands city of Coventry, and was spearheaded by the young genius of Jerry Dammers. Since then the movement has never really died, finding international support all over the globe, helping bands such as No Doubt, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones sell millions of records.

Psychobilly
Truly anti-establishment, this hard core cult demanded a severe stylistic allegiance whilst offering wild lifestyle of snakebite by the gallon and a frantic soundtrack rooted in rockabilly.

With the punk explosion giving England’s youth the license rebel, the psychobilly phenomenon took up the baton gallantly. Flying in the face of classic rockabilly, it upset the purists with its anti-fashion stance. People crossed the road when a psychobilly approached- multicolored quiffs, bleached jeans, DMs half way up their legs and a multitude of tattoos prevailed.

Rockabilly bands like The Straycats, and Polecats had enjoyed chart success whereas, psychobilly was far less commercial, far more punk. The first true psychobilly band was the Meteors, often covered in fake blood, they were the pioneers of the movement and proclaimed “Only the Meteors are pure psychobilly” The psychobilly Mecca was the Klubfoot at the Clarendon in Hammersmith, West London. The scene rapidly swept across Europe, Scandinavia, and into Japan and for a few years it seemed every teenager on the underground had a quiff and a tattoo. It was a club for rebels. The music industry hated psychobilly-which just made it more fun. Always misunderstood and better for it.

Goths
One of the enduring subcultures, Goths wear anything as long as it is black.

White and jet black face make-up, Goths lived vicariously through excessive bands such as The Mission, whose own imagery and style was based on fantasy mixed with rock n’ roll. Spawned in the appropriately named Batcave club in London, the pale faced, black clad, doom-obsessed bands quickly gathered a large and cult following, with a unique look that spread across many countries. Goth possesses a peculiar ability to stay out of the mainstream, which is perhaps why it has remained a subculture.

In America, many goth fans later picked up on the globally successful industrial music. The early 90’s scene had many of the original elements of older goth - the fishnets, the black and white make-up, for men and women, the jet-black hair, although the music was much heavier. During 1994 industrial music was particularly popular, and as a result millions of kids the world over donned black clothes and the corresponding DM’s.

Grunge
Grunges “loser” culture with its thrift store chic, long hair, big boots, and hard searing rock ruled the world for a few glorious years in the early ‘90s.

As the 80’s headed toward a climax, an underground scene was developing in Seattle that would turn the global mainstream on its head. Grunge began life as a desperate group of bands gigging relentlessly on the underground circuit, championed by the record label Sub Pop, and including artists such as Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Tad and Nirvana. Music changed forever when Nirvana’s “Smells like teen spirit” exploded into the worlds consciousness.

Kurt Cobain’s music blew the doors off the music industry, their success changed nearly every facet of how radio, record labels, record stores, concert venues and MTV did business with bands and their fans. Kurt Cobain’s tragic suicide in April 1994 effectively put an end to grunge although for many it had already become listless among other bands giving in to corporate hi-jack, growing drug problems and increasing feeble music. Punk ethics were anything but commercialism that eventually crippled the movement’s original potency. Still the most mass-market of all the subcultures.