Dr. Martens
The Griggs family had been making boots in Northamptonshire since 1901, they were an established, reputable company. Leadership of the company fell on Bill Griggs in the 1950s. While looking through a shoe magazine sat in his Cobbs Lane office he noticed an advertisement by two German inventors looking for overseas partners. Munich based maverick Dr Martens with his close friend Dr Funck had developed a revolutionary air-cushioned sole after a skiing injury. Griggs contacted the German inventors and after anglicising the name the Dr Martens boot was born in 1960.
Over the coming decades the Dr Martens boots and shoes were adopted by British subcultures as a fashion statement that referenced an industrial working class background. The Dr Marten has been the piece of footwear for the underground over the past decades, Skinheads, Punks, Oi!, Psychobilly, Two-Tone, Ska, Goth, Grunge have all championed the now legendary footwear. The East London art scene was the last to adopt the shoe, pushing it into the forefront of fashion and “how to look cool”. Dr Martens are now producing shoes like the Steed, it has everything a Dr Marten shoe should have, an Air-Wair sole, high shine leather, but it has been refined and sleekened to become an accessible shoe that is much more versatile, making it a shoe we love at Oliver Spencer. The line of Dr Martens you will find at our store are the Made In England line. Tradition is something we keep close to our hearts and the shoes in our store will have all been made in the original Dr Martens Northamptonshire factory.
