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Dr Martens has never had sales to match the cultural relevance that comes with being worn by the likes of Pete Townshend, Kurt Cobain and many rock stars in between. That widespread recognition made the company a tantalising target in 2013, when the private equity firm Permira bought the maker of rubber-soled boots for nearly US$500 million ($698.9m) — and now those growth plans have hit a snag. Dr Martens announced last week that chief executive Steve Murray was leaving in an attempt to speed up the company’s transforma- tion. The current chairman, Paul Mason, will take over during a search for a new CEO.
“Steve has done some great work putting people and structures in place and we are now well placed to move into a new phase of accelerated growth,” Dr Martens told staff.
As Permira pushed for growth, Dr Martens expanded beyond its sturdy boots and shoes. Murray, after taking over a 1000-employee company owned by the same family since 1901, added new products influenced by sneakers and casual footwear, opened Dr Martens-branded stores, and overhauled the e-commerce operation.
Sales hit nearly £290m for the year ended March 2017, an increase of 25 per cent on the previous year and a sign of a turnaround taking hold, but remain a fraction of the US$3.6 billion of Sketchers USA.
The company said new leadership was needed for the next phase.
Mason, named chairman in 2015, has experience selling a company. He was chairman of New Look, a retailer bought for £780m in 2015 by South African investment firm Brait SE.
“As Dr Martens enters the next phase of its history, it is trading well and is ideally placed to accelerate its growth still further in the years ahead,” Mason said.
To succeed with Dr Martens, Permira has been trying to lure back former customers while expanding into new areas. There are now dozens of Dr
Martens stores at which songs by the Clash play on heavy rotation, and sales clerks sport tattoos and piercings. But the men’s loafers, some with tassels, sandals and sneaker-inspired looks on display drift from the company’s counterculture image.
Murray seemed a good fit when he joined in 2014: an exacting boss with an emotional connection to the iconic boots and a sharp turnaround plan.
In an interview this year, he recalled turning the laces on his Dr Martens over to the police before entering a soccer stadium near his English hometown. This was in the 1970s, when the shoes were popular with a particularly rowdy demographic. With unlaced boots, police reasoned, the soccer fans couldn’t fight.
“It wasn’t a particularly successful strategy,” Murray said.
He didn’t wear his black boots as much while embarking on a career as an executive at Vans, Urban Outfitters and Decker Brands’ UGG. It’s a choice made by many Dr Martens customers who associate the lace-ups with their younger days. That’s one problem the changes to the product line under Murray were meant to address — to draw back those former fans.
With a shaved head and brawny build, he looked like somebody who would have done all right in a scrap. As chief executive, he favoured a Dr Martens slip-on boot called Chelsea as “more age-appropriate”.
Murray tried for balance in maintaining the company’s rebellious attitude — while acknowledging the need to grow fast under Permira.