2023-06-05 19:09:35
Doc Martens has a problem with its shares
The boots are considered an icon of protest culture. Now the British company has scared investors: the share price has collapsed massively. What’s going on there?
Very British, even if they originally come from Lake Starnberg in Bavaria: Doc Martens shoes with a very special sole.
Photo: Keystone
There was a time when all you had to do was look at the shoes someone was wearing and you knew who you were dealing with. For example, anyone who wore Doc Martens in 1960s London was almost certainly working class. The chunky, thick-soled lace-up boots were a hallmark of the British working class. Factory workers wore them, as did postmen and policemen. Long ago. Those who are out and about with Doc Martens today can be everything or nothing. The punks in Hyde Park sometimes wear the same boots as the Kardashians.
Apart from Chucks, the once legendary basketball shoes from Converse, there are hardly any shoes that have experienced as many revivals as Doc Martens. This will be discussed later, but first a few words about the current state of Dr. Martens from Wollaston in Northamptonshire, England. The company presented figures this week that, at first glance, only suggest the best. Annual sales exceeded one billion pounds for the first time. Nevertheless, the analysts saw red: The profit has collapsed so massively that the share price has fallen by more than 10 percent. Before tax, profit fell in the past financial year by 26 percent to 159 million pounds.
The problem is the American market
Kenny Wilson, the boss of Dr. Martens was clearly trying to limit the damage. The goal is to double sales to two billion pounds. In order to achieve this, investments will continue, which of course costs money in the short term, but will pay off in the long term. The main problem for the company at the moment is the US market, where business is not going as well as planned. The classic boots in particular are selling poorly, the bottom line is 10 percent less than in the previous year. On the other hand, sandals that are more reminiscent of the Birkenstock competition than classic Docs are in increasing demand.
Running: Doc Martens sandals are in demand.
Photo. PD
For ten years, Dr. Martens holds a majority stake in the London private equity firm Permira. And thus a financial investor who is not known for simply letting business run its course. After the news from Dr. Martens did not go down well on the stock exchange, there should be a need for discussion. In any case, boss Wilson acknowledged that stocks were too high, especially in the US, but he fought back speculation that the shoes were being sold at a discount. Under no circumstances will he reduce the price of the “iconic core product”.
An icon among shoes, that is undoubtedly Doc Martens. The brand thrives on this to this day. The history of the company began after the Second World War. However, not in England, but in Bavaria. The doctor and inventor Klaus Maertens lived there, in Seeshaupt on Lake Starnberg. According to company legend, he broke his leg while skiing in 1945, but couldn’t find a shoe that relieved the pain when he stepped on it. So he started tinkering himself. A shoe sole with air cushions was made from old tires. Maertens patented his invention. In 1949 he founded the company Dr. Maertens air cushion shoes.
Pete Townshend from The Who, Kurt Cobain from Nirvana: rock musicians turned the boots into pop stars.
The shoes only really became well-known when Maertens licensed the British shoe manufacturer Bill Griggs for his invention in 1959. In 1960 Griggs began mass production in Wollaston. As I said, at first the boots were primarily a popular work shoe because it was more comfortable for the working class. But then something happened that no one in the company could have foreseen: Pete Townshend, the guitarist for the rock band The Who, wore the boots on stage. And so Doc Martens became a symbol of a culture of protest, even a rebellion of young people against the establishment. Suddenly middle-class children were wearing workmen’s boots.
Decades followed, as punks and skinheads discovered their love for Doc Martens. The shoes were part of British youth culture. And not only there. At the latest when US bands appeared in Great Britain, stocked up on Docs there and wore them on stage at home, the shoes from England became a worldwide success. Of course, Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, who loved to wear Docs in the 1990s, remains unforgotten. And with him many other grunge rockers.
Anyone who has tried the boots on knows that it takes a while for the rather stiff leather to soften. When the time comes, however, you can easily endure a three-day music festival in the mud. The only alternative in this case would be rubber boots. But even that is now available from Dr. martens
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