MADE IN BRITAI
With unique air-filled “bouncing” soles, yellow stitching, tough leather uppers and eight eyelets, Dr. Martens boots have become an icon since they were first made in Britain in 1960.
Invented in Germany in 1945 by Dr. Klaus Maertens, a 25-year-old ex-soldier, to cushion his injured foot – the shoe was spotted by British cobbler Bill Griggs.
He licensed it, added those iconic touches and launched Airwair as a working man’s boot for £2 a pair on April 2 1960.
By the end of the decade skinheads – and The Who rock star Pete Townshend – adopted them as a symbol of working class defiance. Since then they have been worn by everyone from politician Tony Benn to Pope John Paul II, The Clash, punks, goths, and Lady Gaga. Comic Alexei Sayle had a hit with Dr Martens Boots. Today 60,000 pairs a year are still made in Griggs’ Cobbs Lane factory in Wollaston, Northants, and 6million at plants worldwide to keep up with demand. It takes 48 workers just 53 minutes to make a pair. Sales are still soaring – especially in the Far East – and last year revenue hit £291million. Airwair, Docs, DMS – whatever you call them they’re one of the greatest British brands ever. Folding bikes have been with us since the 1800s – but Brompton revolutionised them.
Invented by engineer Andrew Ritchie in his flat in 1976, a hand-made bike now rolls out of the factory in Greenford, Middlesex, every three minutes.
And three in four of the 50,000 made each year are exported. Holland loves them – in fact the Dutch are said to have as many Bromptons as fridges! Each bike has over 1,200 components and can be ordered in one of 13 colours With a choice of add-ons l mud guards and luggage rac it means buyers can choose from 16million combination Forty-two years on – and with stores across the world the company isn’t resting on its laure As well as traditio Bromptons, starti from about £900, i has begun producin the next generation the Brompton Electri Salt was once a currency – and a family-owned company has been turning it in to cash for 136 years.
But business really boomed when TV chef Delia Smith said it was an “absolutely pure salt that tastes of the sea” in 2000.
Now 10million boxes a year – 17,000 tonnes – leave the Osborne family’s Maldon Sea Salt factory in Essex. It’s exported Marshmallow and jam, sandwi by two round biscuits, coated i chocolate... Wagon Wheels hav been a lunchbox classic since 1 Each year a single factory in Llantarnam, South Wales, makes 125million of them – and not just for fans here. St Albans-based Burton’s Biscuit Company – which traces its British baking history back to the mid-1800s – exports to the US, Australia, Canada and across the