Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/11/18/dr-martens-planning-for-ipo-in-2021.html
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Punk rock.
Holy heck. It took me almost a week at work bussing carts and bagging groceries to afford my first pair in the 90’s. Now I’m buying stock in their company.
Odd times.
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Bought one of the last pairs made in the UK in I want to say 2007? The quality difference with the new sweatshop boots was visible. Haven’t bought any since.
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While their quality has gone down, another company named Solovair makes Doc lookalikes with the quality of the old school docs. The downside is that they don’t seem to have any brick&mortar store where you can try them on. Mail order only. 
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The nostalgia hits hard. I must’ve worn out a half dozen pairs before I was 25. Just bought my moody teenager some cheap “tactical” boots (I had a coupon!), but didn’t even think of looking into Docs since I’ve absorbed the poor quality news.
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The real question is- if major US banks that swindle millions of people with fabricated accounts and fees for them are funding an iconic punk brand like this, is it still punk, or is it a literal sell out?
I say the latter.
The very nature of an ipo goes against everything that’s punk, imho.
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I’m so punk I didn’t know what IPO meant though I surmised correctly and un-punkly used google to confirm.
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Punk icon or skinhead icon?
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In the ontology of punkness, isn’t skinhead a subset of punk, as hardcore is a subset of punk?
No, skinhead is an earlier subculture.
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Just because a given company’s product is primarily feted by a given subculture doesn’t obligate said company to abide by that subculture’s values.
No. Skinhead culture predates punk, though there was plenty of overlap from the mid-70s on.
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Ten years from now, when Dr. Martens is selling flip flips and cheap Uggs knock offs, we’ll all fondly remember this as the last gasp of a punk rock icon. But honestly, they sold out in 2013, and it’s been all down hill since. This is just the icing on the corporate cake, so to speak. Companies will never realize there’s more to life then trying to achieve endless growth and IPO’s.
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I was never terribly immersed in this world but brushed across it in the early to mid-90s, pretty late in the cycle. Looking at the article on skinheads on Wikipedia, it would strike me that punk culture actually emerged from skinhead culture – would you say that’s a reasonable view?
As long as that’s the mainstream ideology, no, it really won’t. We have to change the culture of capitalism to change how companies behave, I’m afraid. A tall order.
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Thanks for the tip!
I never heard about them before. Good selection, lots of models I like.
And 8 stockists within reasonable distance, or more or less en route to places I go to a couple of times a year (pre covid).
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They still manufacture a limited selection in the UK! My son and I both bought a pair, and they seem to be the same quality as my first pair of 10-eyes (with Zippo pocket!) from back in the 90s.
It used to take me so long to get those 10-eyes on and laced up when I was a teenager. Love the continuity of watching my kids laboriously get their boots on in the morning.
The IPO does feel like selling out, but I guess what do I care whether one wealthy family owns the company, or many wealthy families?
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Do they charge more for those, the way Danner does?
