Why Doc Martens Are So Expensive | So Expensive

when Doc Martens first appeared in the UK in 1960 they were working boots that would cost you under $3 a pair these days a pair of made in England boots could set you back 225 dollars so what has changed and why these shoes now so expensive Doc Martens are a style icon that has endured for over 50 years they've been worn by everyone from Kanye West and cardi B to the Dalai Lama and even Pope John Paul the second when the Vatican placed an order for the famous eight eyelet boot in black white and navy leather while a pair of docs may not be the most expensive boot out there their price and use has gone through a pretty radical transformation and the company producing them has shifted dramatically to from a family-owned local Factory to an international fashion brand and by a private equity firm since 2014 the price of boots has risen by almost 25 percent sales of grant year-on-year and profits were up 70 percent in 2018 to 19 so how did the company go from its humble beginnings to producing seven million pairs of these shoes each year before they got their Punk Image Doc Martens weren't quite so cool the patented technology behind the boots the air-cushion sole was invented in 1945 by dr. Klaus Martens a German army doctor who injured his ankle in a skiing accident and was looking for a comfortable alternative to hard leather sole boots the market for this new shoe technology wasn't the Punk's or skinheads you might associate with the history of these shoes but older women in need of comfortable and practical footwear they were even advertised as perfect gardening shoes at one point it was when this technology was brought over to the UK in 1960 that the iconic shoe you might recognise was first made the air-cushion sole was licensed to the Greeks company in North Hampton and the 1460 boot was created the iconic stitching and recognizable heel loop were added and the boots were sold to factory workers across England at the time these boots cost only three dollars a pair even with inflation that's just over fifty dollars they were cheap hard wearing and perfect for postman policemen and workers on their feet all day the boot was quickly adopted by any counter cultural movement that appeared and they became a mainstay in glam punk skinhead ska and goth style among many others Doc Martens fashion status wasn't always guaranteed though after the boom in the 90s the boots dipped out of fashion and the company struggled almost going bust in the early 2000s as the industry shrank the cost of manufacturing shoes in England also got more expensive and by 2002 it already cost around 87 dollars for a pair of Doc Martens that's around a hundred and forty dollars with inflation Northamptonshire was once the home of shoe making in England in the mid 19th century there were over 2,000 shoe makers working in the region but as many of these shoemaker struggled the majority went under or moved production abroad and now there were just over 30 left Doc Martens followed suit moving their production to Asia the company still makes shoes in its Northamptonshire factory but now this is only around 2% of its total production Doc Martin says this relocation hasn't changed the way its shoes are made at all we wanted to see if there actually was a difference between the new Asian made boots the more expensive made in England variety or a vintage pair from before the move we spoke to someone who's torn down multiple pairs of these shoes to find out I'm Wes UK I'm a professional leather worker and I cut boots issues in half on YouTube now I would say the production methods are really similar between the Asian made boots and the maiden England boots they a lot of the same features on the inside of how they stitch their boots are identical the construction is really similar they still heat so the sole to the welt I think a lot of the big differences between the vintage boots and the newer ones it's it's stuff that you would only notice if you cut it in half almost or if you warm for long enough time the vintage Doc Martens had a way better midsole that has a lot of comfort they had a wooden shank and the leather was just a lot better so they lasted longer they're more comfortable they have the support you need the newer ones just have worst versions of the old ones materials I wouldn't describe them as a super durable or long lasting boot but a lot of people are just buying these boots because of Doc Martens anyway and they're going to be comfortable they're gonna last a decently long time so most people are gonna be happy with them we contacted Doc Martens about these comments and a spokesperson told us we have not altered any materials or manufacturing processes that would jeopardize the quality of our products and wear specification changes have occurred they've been made to enhance our iconic products and to ensure we improve the wearer's experience we removed the shank in 2000 after realizing it did not improve the structural integrity of our boots in 2005 our internal fellow has changed from felt to a better quality material the 90s boot being referenced along with our current made in England range have a leather thickness of 1.8 millimeters whereas our main range has a thickness of 1.6 regardless of the materials Doc Martens style has insured and since 2002 the brand's popularity has skyrocketed the countercultural image that made it so famous is something that has stuck to this Demi despite the expansion from small-town British made boots to international icon and for fans of the boot this can be an obsession over the years the company is evolved from producing one boot in 1960 to producing around 250 styles each year and as its popularity has grown so is the competition over recent years Doc Martens has filed lawsuits against Urban Outfitters fans boohoo and others in an attempt to protect his iconic boot design in 2014 the company was sold by the family and bought by private equity firm Permira since this takeover the price of boots has risen by almost 25% and profits were up 70% in 2018 to 19 in large part due to the newfound success of their vegan range and while the boots of transition from an English workers boot into a global fashion icon their style is injured and their devoted fan following isn't going anywhere [Music]

Channel: Insider Business

Views: 12,878,768

Keywords: Business Insider, doc martens, made in england, UK, england, so expensive, Business News, UK Original Video, shoes, boots

Id: Drg8beQFS5M

Length: 6min 46sec (406 seconds)

Published: Sat May 02 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/coberh]

Well, since 98% of Doc Martens are made in Asia, the reason they are expensive is just because of profit margins. It's not spent on quality.

[u/bhrgunatha]

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, spez is a spineless, petty, incompetent liar who admits to editing comments critical of him.

• https://web.archive.org/web/20161123235630/https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/5ee6gs/announcement_in_regards_to_todays_shutdown_of/dabqnmg/
• https://www.huffpost.com/entry/reddit-ceo-edits-user-comments_n_5839cf32e4b000af95ee5b68
• https://www.engadget.com/2016-11-24-reddit-ceo-confesses-to-editing-comments-that-insulted-him.html

I believe he was working carefully in collusion with board member and co-founder Alex Ohanian - kn0thing in order to become CEO by manipulating the reddit community into causing Ellen Pao to resign.

After finally admitting to sacking Victoria a well liked community outreach employee over a disagreement with Ohanian about the future of AMAs. He allowed Ellen Pao to take all the vitriol and hate after the announcement.

His response to the blackout of IAMA sub in response to the firing

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Their handling of the recent API changes was handled so badly many subs decided to protest

Once alerted spez organised an AMA but only makes 14 pre-written replies to over 30000 comments. Many subs (r/funny - r/videos) decide to remain private indefinitely:

In one thread explaining why

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Glissssy said:

Good decision. 48 hours obviously wasn't going to make any difference, yesterday's 'AMA' where the admins ignored basically every question and then abandoned it (without informing the users they had ended it) was proof they're not in the mood for making concessions.

I think they've come to the conclusion that they've made big changes before and the users pretty much fell into line eventually so this time won't be any different. I think this is a change too far however and I've never seen the site this angry, going private indefinitely seems to be the only way of getting the message through to them.

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brody_edit replies:

And it only took spez (fuck him) about one hour to run out of his 13 copy/pasted pre-written responses (along with, I can only assume, an improvised 14th reply to throw one more baseless accusation at the author of Apollo) and then just walk away.

Seriously. The cunt forgot to remove the "A:" before one of his responses that was on the doc he was copy/pasting from.

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I asked permission to use those (now hidden) quotes

One of the most popular app's developer tried to negotiate a deal to reduce the exhorbitant prices that will basically shut down the app. I believe this is the real reason for the API charges being so high - to shut down 3^rd party apps and force the majority of users to use the appalling official reddit app.

The 14^th reply was doubling down and being caught in another lie made about that negotiation:

• https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/jnk45rr/
• https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/jnkd09c/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQAgkVFCZb8

Notice he tries to smear the recording as a "leak" but it was a legal recording since many places don't require consent and use recordings.

So few of the concerns API concerns have been addressed and the management of reddit have demonstrated such a lack of understanding or care for the very community that not only provides the very content that makes them money, but in particular the unpaid moderators who donate countless hours and free labour whose ability to operate effectively will be severely limited by the loss of those apps.

spez believes the 2 day privacy blackout will fizzle out ineffectively

Since some subs are remaining private, the ever incompetent but all powerful spez of course is changing reddit rules in order to remove moderators

• https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/reddit-protest-blackout-ceo-steve-huffman-moderators-rcna89544), thereby taking back control over any future protests.
• https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/14aeq5j/new_admin_post_if_a_moderator_team_unanimously/

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I will no longer support or use reddit. So I'm removing my content they've been profiting off. I sincerely apologise for difficulties this causes for future users for the missing content but

• It is legally my copyright
• The option to delete your content is built into reddit so is officially sanctioned
• Only some of it was useful

[u/OpsFinger]

What are some good boots for men? I’ve heard Redwing was a good brand for quality boots

[u/steerbell]

Owned by a private equity firm.

I found out all I needed to know right there.

[u/bleakzeke112]

I'm somewhat impressed the spokesperson gave more than a canned response, and actually went into detail regarding changes in their shoe design

[u/potzorbie]

They should do one on Louboutins and other designer shoes

[u/[deleted]]

I don't have to watch a video to tell you why any designer clothing brand is expensive

[u/StructuralE]

I bought a pair of keens in around 2005 and they lasted for 10ish years. The replacement pair lasted for less than 1. Wondering if the same thing happened...

[u/Jgold101]

as a guy who wears boots for work I really hope that whole boot craze blows over