Downward DOCS

Shares in iconic British bootmaker Dr Martens had to be temporarily halted yesterday, slipping ~30% after the company tempered its sales outlook for 2025 and announced that Ije Nwokorie, an ex-Apple senior director, would take the helm in an effort to reboot the company’s slumping fortunes.

The sole issue for Docs isn’t hard to diagnose: they just aren’t selling enough shoes. Sales were down 12% in the latest quarter, with US revenues sliding 31% year-over-year, after a rough winter for the brand when fewer shoppers picked up the chunky-soled leather boots over the all-important Christmas period. Activist investors, presumably unhappy with the stock’s ~85% drop since its early 2021 peak, have also been urging the company to undertake a strategic review.

Designed as a collaboration between a pair of German doctors and a family-run British shoemaker, Docs had humble beginnings as practical work boots that sold for £2 (~$5) a pair in 1960. Within just over a decade, however, the boots had worked their way into British subcultures like the ska and punk movements and soon stomped their way to cultural icon status.

Collaborations with everyone from Warner Bros and hypebeast brand Supreme to Jean-Michel Basquiat have helped the brand stay relevant. But, the company is now also battling competition from sprawling value sites like Temu, which Docs has accused of infringing on its trademarks by manipulating Google searches to make lookalike items appear above its results.