Change afoot at Dr Martens as CEO given boot

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 bootmaker for nearly $500 million – and now those growth plans have hit a snag. Dr Martens announced yesterday that chief executive officer Steve Murray was leaving in an attempt to speed up the company’s transformation. The current chairman, Paul Mason, will take over during a search for a new chief executive.

“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 said.

As Permira has pushed for growth, Dr Martens expanded beyond its sturdy boots and shoes. Murray, after taking over a 1 000-employee company that had been owned by the same family since 1901, added new products influenced by sneakers and casual footwear, opened Dr Martens-branded stores and overhauled e-commerce operation.

Sales hit nearly £290 million for the year ended March, an increase of 25% over the previous year and a sign of a turnaround taking hold, but remain a fraction of the $3.6bn of Skechers USA. The company said new leadership is needed for the next phase. Mason, named chairman in 2015, has experience selling a company. He was previously chairman of New Look, a retailer bought for £780m in 2015 by the South African investment company Brait SE.

He was also an executive at the online grocer Asda Stores and jeans maker Levi Strauss.

“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.The anklehigh boots are at the centre of it all – as are men’s loafers, some with tassels. There are also sandals and sneakerinspired looks that drift from the company’s counterculture image.

Murray seemed a good fit when he joined the company in 2014: an exacting boss with an emotional connection to the 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 home town. This was during 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 Deckers 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. – Bloomberg LP

The classic Dr Martens boot has always had a rebel image.