Dr. Martens

1946 A German doctor Klaus Maertens, living in Seeshaupt, near Munich, goes skiing and injures his foot. He makes himself a pair of shoes from old tyres with air soles to comfort the foot. Dr. Maertens and a friend, Dr. Herbert Funck, an engineer, patent and develop the Dr. Maertens Shoe.

1959 Maertens and Funck sell the manufacturing rights to R. Griggs and Co., a traditional British bootmaker.

1 April 1960 The first British DMs go on sale.

Mid 1960s British youth adopt the DM as a symbol of their antiestablishment attitudes.

1970s Unemployed youth wear DMs and behave violently on football terraces. The police wear DMs to catch them.

1971 Rebels wear DMs in Stanley Kubrick’s violent film A Clockwork Orange.

1975 Elton John wears DMs in rock-opera Tommy.

Mid 1970s Punk rock fans adopt them.

1980s Thousands of Japanese, American and European youth come to London’s Camden market to buy DMs.

1983 Young designer Wayne Heminway and his wife-to-be Geraldine, set up a stall in Camden market selling clothes and DMs.

Griggs supplies Heminway with customized DMs for his Red or Dead Fashion Shows.

Some women wear them as a form of protest.

1985 Madonna wears DMs in the film Desperately Seeking Susan.

1992 Designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace offer designer DMs.

1993 The Pope wears them walking in the Alps and we hear that Dalai Lama likes them too.

Today the Vatican Guard wear them.

7(10). Listening. Faith Walker talks about her first pair of Dr. Martens (DMs). Listen, fill in the gaps and then answer the questions.

1. When did you __________?

2. How much _____________?

3. Where ________________?

4. What color _____________?

5. Why __________________?

6. Do you still _____________?

8. Speaking. Speak on the history of the company you know.