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Dr Martens: are things going wrong with the UK's beloved brand?

Readers accuse the firm of falling standards after private equity buyout and shift in production

It was just a small question in our regular Consumer Champions column. Why, a reader asked, had her £170 Dr Martens boots fallen apart after just six months? The response was huge, with readers accusing the bootmaker of sacrificing quality, offshoring production and chasing profits under the ownership of a London-based private equity company a long way from its roots in Northamptonshire.

Much of the response was emotional: from the moment the Who’s Pete Townshend scissor-kicked his way on stage in 1967 wearing eight-eyes boots, through to the height of punk, wearing Dr Martens has been a symbol of British working-class subculture. The company’s shift to China, factory closures in Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Somerset, and a takeover by private equity, seem symbolic of what has happened to the British economy since then. Yes, there’s still a “Made in England” label on some Dr Martens – but today only 2% of its shoes are manufactured in England, with everything else moved to Asia.

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