Thursday, May 15, 2008

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Even though Dr. Martens are sold at Hot Topic, the first chapter of their story isn't exactly fashionable. When German doctor Klaus Meartens damaged his foot skiing in the alps his good old's boots were no good. During his recovery he customized a pair of boots to cushion his injured foot and decided that he'd had goldmine. It took two years for the air cushioned boots to take off in 1947. Housewives over forty were his usual customers. Eventually mass sales led to the the first Dr. Martens shoe factory and then international marketing. Dr. Martens did not enter England (where most people know them from punk and skinhead subcultures) until 1960. The cherry red, 8 eyelet style was embraced by workman and police officers first. Later in the decade Skinheads began wearing them and in the punk explosion of the 7o's they're popularity amongst subversive youth grew. Dr. Martens joined the ranks of other forms of work wear (t-shirts and denim) to become fashionable. They've even been on the runway recently (Gareth Pugh, Chloe, Yohji Yamamoto)and come in a multitude of styles and colors.
info-wikipedia
my first pair of “Dr. Martens” were bought for me in grade 7 or 8, and were black with tan stitching…but unfortunately my mother bought the no name ones thinking I wouldn’t notice the difference. Oh mum, but I did, and so did my other friends with real mccoy Dr. Martens…My birthday came around, and low and behold I was now the proud owner of a genuine pair of Martens. Ahhh yes. That was my first.

either way cool or not, I need to get myself a pair of white ones this summer. Nothing will make me happier.
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5 comments:

little one said...

hahahahahaha, i got my first pair in grade 9 which would be your grade 7. i couldn't find kids ones in TO yet so when we went to my cousin's wedding in NY summer before grade 9, dave took me to 8th ave. which at the time was ONLY shoes stores and we found baby doc martens, 8 hole with tiny yellow stitching.

looked almost fake b/c of the stitching so i constantly had to prove they were the originals, i loved!

funny how i'm still the same size foot????

lower case g said...

i got my first 8 holes in grade 7, so your grade, what, 6?! ha! then i upped it to 10 holes... i never made it to 12, they weren't cool anymore. my dad still rocks the old 10 holes when he does yard work! hot.

jessica said...

ha amazing! janet i would die to see you in them! i hope you kept them. tiny lil docs..

and gare your dad must looks adorable. take a pic of that!
and yes yes both of you i'm younger.. geezzze!! i was a stylish lil bugger back in my days, don’t hate…

little one said...

wwaaaaaaiiiiiiitttttttt!!!!! just noticed you were born in '84 on facebook!!! i thought you were born in '81!!!!!!! OMG that means you were in grade 6...FUCK!!!! SHOOOT MEE!!! oh well i look like i'm 18 still!!!

fyi: the fundraising for my trip back to TO for a visit is going excellently. good job!

little one said...

OMG i can't add, i meant grade 4?? that couldn't possibly be right, right? 1984-1979 is what? what?