Bavarian physician Klaus Maertens designed his famous "air cushion sole" boots in 1945 to protect his feet after a skiing accident. The first pair of boots was actually made from old tires. In the late 1960s, the "1460" boot became part of the battle dress of British fascist (right-wing) skinheads, a group of radical youths. The police who arrested them soon came to favor the comfortable Dr. Maertens shoe. Along with tartan trousers, the boot became an icon of the punk (see entry under 1970s—Music in volume 4) subculture in the late 1970s.

Since the 1970s, Doc Martens, or "DMs" as they are known in the United Kingdom, have been the world's number one cult footwear. Within a decade, Doc Martens had hit the mainstream. Sold in upmarket department stores, almost 70 percent of the boots were bought by women in the 1990s. Available in the traditional oxblood (reddish...