Mine moved with me across the Atlantic, survived Covid, and outlasted my friendship with the person who said they were a stupid purchase. This is my Doc Martens saga. Tell me yours in the comments.
I'm so interested to read other people's relationship histories with Doc Martens here. In trying to think of my own, it made me realize that I am way too big a stickler for not following trends. Which is why, after briefly having one pair of Doc Martens in college (black, standard number of holes), I quickly switched to a vintage pair of black men's Polish navy shoes that were way too big, but served the same kind of bad ass purpose, while I could know that no one else had them. I focus too much on this. I considered naming my daughter the beautiful name Violet, but didn't because I thought it would be too trendy. I realize that's ridiculous.
So my history with Doc Martens is that they were one of the very first advertisers in Sassy magazine, and one of the very few who did not pull out their advertising when there was a conservative boycott against Sassy for our controversial content. Go Doc Martens! We love you forever!
First pair of Docs were bought at the venerable and infamous Trash and Vaudeville in the early 90's, along with my first jar of Manic Panic, in Plum. 8 hole Oxblood. They went to college and to London and back again and all over the country, then back to NYC. I worked in film and TV and Broadway and was a bit of a club kid and they came with me everywhere, being the perfect boot for everything. And then, I lost a lot of weight, and my feet shrank a size or so. Dumbass me donated them. My only small comfort is that I hope some other East Villager made the find of their life and are very happy with them. Nowadays Docs are mostly plastic and made in Vietnam, and I just couldn't bring myself to buy another pair. Until.... and yes this was probably 15 years ago but I'm Gen X so it feels recent, I saw a pair of 8 hole rose gold metallic ones at the DSW on Union Square IN THE SALE AREA. I did stalk them for a couple weeks, because they still weren't cheap, but after it went down to I think the blue tag I snatched them up. I don't wear them as much as I used to, they feel heavy to my older legs, but damn they are so pretty, and I do still feel like a bit of a badass when I put them on. Maybe I'll stalk some resale sites for a pair like I used to wear. I'll pair it with my old motorcycle jacket if I can find it and some readers, because those have to come with me everywhere now, and I'll feel a little badass some more
I love Trash and Vaudeville! And I bet there is some East Villager showing them off as the find of the century and is loving them as much as you did! My oldest pair is coming up on 20 years soon...and lets just say they've aged better than I have!
I wanted Docs SO BAD, mostly for winter in NYC, and partly cos they're so cool. I bought a pair of the Chelsea style - didn't fit - bought a pair with a side zip that did fit, but were horribly uncomfortable. I was almost crying one day after stomping around in them!
So then I bought a pair of the lace up style, but that only came up to my ankles. I have a love-hate relationship with them too. Once they're on, they're on, I love them, they're so comfortable, albeit a little heavy. But I hate putting them on! My foot ALWAYS gets stuck, and I have to push and pull to make my foot fit properly. So much effort. But, a good reward
I’m the 49 year old woman who grew up in the village in England where Doc Martens originated. My family worked in the factories, so at 12 years old, I became the girl who “tested out” the designs for new DM styles. I did 10-holes, 12-holes (so many holes!), reds, burnished browns, deep maroons (my fave - made me v cool), chelsea boots, sandals, oxfords, the lot. Being the early 90s, I wore my beloved 8-hole 1460 leathers all the way through school. They saw me through agonising exams, dirty concerts, awkward kisses, Cinzano on the park swings, killer heartbreak, art college parties, grubby British festivals and eventually, to a job in London where they were no longer appropriate to be wearing. Today I live in a belting hot tropical country so my DMs are just a faithful friend I reunite with once a year. We get together and as I lace them up I’m 14 again, knowing exactly how every scratch, dent and blemish on them was made. Being older now, I sprained my ankle the other week stepping off a kerb like a normal person. Would never have bloody happened if I’d been wearing my Doc Martens 😉
I had one pair of docs and they were pretty tight. I usually wore them as club gear and… I guess I don’t understand this fabled “breaking in” process. Bleeding from your heels? Why not just size up 1/2 a size?
Oh so that is a great question, and I can't say I have an answer per se... I will say I don't really remember having to break them in as a child but I'd chalk that down to my mother possibly buying the Docs bigger so I would grow into them! (She was clothing 5 kids at the time - so buying bigger was common enough!) The first pair I bought myself I got a size up (probably because I didn't have the patience to wait to break them in), they were the 14 hole ones and they did hurt at the start. All subsequent pairs have been bought true to size. Basically my heels were cut up at the beginning regardless!! So I'm not sure if that's a helpful answer...! I have heard a theory of freezing them with water-filled ziplocked bags stuffed inside but I was worried about damaging them so I broken them in the old fashioned way. Man that was a long way to answer... I don't know... :D
I LOVE this answer! Nothing makes me happier than fascinating stories and information that come out in the comments after the already fascinating and informational story. By the way, it was hard to pick a pull quote for your story because there were so many good ones. I particularly also like the one about how the shoes play up your natural gracelessness. That and how definitive you are about declaring yourself uncool make me laugh. Thank you for this piece and this answer!
I have 3 pairs of Docs, I got them in HS or College? Now....30+ years later I am wearing them again. They are broken in, loved, and I will keep them forever. I had the brown loafer which I think I wore every day for years, and the pair I love most is my black classic boots.
My first job out of college was in consulting, corporate job and I needed a whole new wardrobe - 1997. I got a part time job at Ann Taylor unpacking boxes, cleaning up dressing rooms, sewing buttons etc...I did the grunt work. That is HARD WORK! I still recall coming home and elevating my feet and thinking how much they hurt. The only thing that I could wear to not be in such pain was my Docs, so I wore them with black wide legged pants. The managers at the store told me that they were not the "Ann Taylor vibe" which may have been true, but I told them that I could either continue to wear them or I would quit. And they let me! (I was a very hard worker). These shoes were seldom worn in the next few decades but now they are back! I now wear them to my corporate job with my wide legged jeans and I feel so cool that my vintage Docs, made in the UK, are still in my closet.
I got my first pair (black 3 hole) at a store, of which I can’t recall the name, in Royal Oak, Michigan (I wore through the sole and finally discarded them). The second pair (green 8 eye), though, I got in Dublin when we went to visit my high school exchange student! I still have them, but they’re too small!
Docs were such a serious thing growing up, a rite of passage, beginning for me in Grade 5 with the three holes. We all bought them from a place called ROCK JUNCTION which was as scary a place as it was cool. One day, I threw on a pair of my dad’s shorts and my docs with no socks before school, making my legs look like ACTUAL CHOPSTICKS. I got teased so badly that I didn’t wear shorts or a skirt (unless with five pairs of tights on) in public again for another seven years! Sounds like we all have our stories, thanks for this one!
Oh I felt so cool in my first pair of Docs and it's crazy to me that that feeling hasn't left me! Like surely at this age I should be beyond all that but NOPE! here I am decades on and feeling just as giddy at my "coolness". (Sidenote: I am not a cool person!)
Haha you are cool! In my books. I loved my first pair SO MUCH I kept licking my finger to lean over and clean every single smudge… until the cool girl at school told me they’re better worn in, stop cleaning them! 😂
In seventh grade, 1993, I saved up money from babysitting my little brother to buy my first pair of Docs (the regular black ones) at the Chatham Mall in Ellicott City, Maryland, and, the very next day at school, during art class, I swiped an exact-o knife and carved an anarchy symbol on the inside right ankle. That day, in pre-algebra, a boy passed me a note that said we should start a band called "Juvenile Delinquents"...my other Doc Martens memory is seeing a clip from MTV's House of Style with a model (I think she was British) who had a closet full of all different Doc Martens that she collected, and I was so impressed because I had never been to a store with that much variety of Docs. I had maybe two other pairs. One light brown Mary Jane pair with a butterfly hole punch pattern awl-ed into the leather; that was during my "Beck's Girlfriend" paisley phase) and the other was knee high Docs during a more "Cure" phase. Anyway, thank you for this Docs journey; I never knew this was a stereotype, but I also have never lived in NYC.
Can you or someone tell me about the difference? I actually had no idea. And what a bummer. It actually was over 30 years ago that I had my pair, but that's just coincidental because I'm old, not because I knew when they stopped being made well or anything. But now I want answers! And healthy Dr. Martens debate! Thanks, Paula!
I'm so interested to read other people's relationship histories with Doc Martens here. In trying to think of my own, it made me realize that I am way too big a stickler for not following trends. Which is why, after briefly having one pair of Doc Martens in college (black, standard number of holes), I quickly switched to a vintage pair of black men's Polish navy shoes that were way too big, but served the same kind of bad ass purpose, while I could know that no one else had them. I focus too much on this. I considered naming my daughter the beautiful name Violet, but didn't because I thought it would be too trendy. I realize that's ridiculous.
So my history with Doc Martens is that they were one of the very first advertisers in Sassy magazine, and one of the very few who did not pull out their advertising when there was a conservative boycott against Sassy for our controversial content. Go Doc Martens! We love you forever!
Doc Martens not pulling advertising due to controversial content feels on brand so I'm actually delighted to hear that!
First pair of Docs were bought at the venerable and infamous Trash and Vaudeville in the early 90's, along with my first jar of Manic Panic, in Plum. 8 hole Oxblood. They went to college and to London and back again and all over the country, then back to NYC. I worked in film and TV and Broadway and was a bit of a club kid and they came with me everywhere, being the perfect boot for everything. And then, I lost a lot of weight, and my feet shrank a size or so. Dumbass me donated them. My only small comfort is that I hope some other East Villager made the find of their life and are very happy with them. Nowadays Docs are mostly plastic and made in Vietnam, and I just couldn't bring myself to buy another pair. Until.... and yes this was probably 15 years ago but I'm Gen X so it feels recent, I saw a pair of 8 hole rose gold metallic ones at the DSW on Union Square IN THE SALE AREA. I did stalk them for a couple weeks, because they still weren't cheap, but after it went down to I think the blue tag I snatched them up. I don't wear them as much as I used to, they feel heavy to my older legs, but damn they are so pretty, and I do still feel like a bit of a badass when I put them on. Maybe I'll stalk some resale sites for a pair like I used to wear. I'll pair it with my old motorcycle jacket if I can find it and some readers, because those have to come with me everywhere now, and I'll feel a little badass some more
I love Trash and Vaudeville! And I bet there is some East Villager showing them off as the find of the century and is loving them as much as you did! My oldest pair is coming up on 20 years soon...and lets just say they've aged better than I have!
I wanted Docs SO BAD, mostly for winter in NYC, and partly cos they're so cool. I bought a pair of the Chelsea style - didn't fit - bought a pair with a side zip that did fit, but were horribly uncomfortable. I was almost crying one day after stomping around in them!
So then I bought a pair of the lace up style, but that only came up to my ankles. I have a love-hate relationship with them too. Once they're on, they're on, I love them, they're so comfortable, albeit a little heavy. But I hate putting them on! My foot ALWAYS gets stuck, and I have to push and pull to make my foot fit properly. So much effort. But, a good reward
It's a small price for fashion :P
I’m the 49 year old woman who grew up in the village in England where Doc Martens originated. My family worked in the factories, so at 12 years old, I became the girl who “tested out” the designs for new DM styles. I did 10-holes, 12-holes (so many holes!), reds, burnished browns, deep maroons (my fave - made me v cool), chelsea boots, sandals, oxfords, the lot. Being the early 90s, I wore my beloved 8-hole 1460 leathers all the way through school. They saw me through agonising exams, dirty concerts, awkward kisses, Cinzano on the park swings, killer heartbreak, art college parties, grubby British festivals and eventually, to a job in London where they were no longer appropriate to be wearing. Today I live in a belting hot tropical country so my DMs are just a faithful friend I reunite with once a year. We get together and as I lace them up I’m 14 again, knowing exactly how every scratch, dent and blemish on them was made. Being older now, I sprained my ankle the other week stepping off a kerb like a normal person. Would never have bloody happened if I’d been wearing my Doc Martens 😉
What a truly fantastic and riveting (and funny) comment. Thank you!!
Can we get a Sassy/Doc Marten collab please!
Now that's a brilliant idea. You have to be part of it so I'm not stealing your great idea. Yes??
YES!! I’m so down!
I had one pair of docs and they were pretty tight. I usually wore them as club gear and… I guess I don’t understand this fabled “breaking in” process. Bleeding from your heels? Why not just size up 1/2 a size?
I didn't quite get that either and maybe Sarah can explain here... do they fit your foot better in the end if they start off smaller?
Oh so that is a great question, and I can't say I have an answer per se... I will say I don't really remember having to break them in as a child but I'd chalk that down to my mother possibly buying the Docs bigger so I would grow into them! (She was clothing 5 kids at the time - so buying bigger was common enough!) The first pair I bought myself I got a size up (probably because I didn't have the patience to wait to break them in), they were the 14 hole ones and they did hurt at the start. All subsequent pairs have been bought true to size. Basically my heels were cut up at the beginning regardless!! So I'm not sure if that's a helpful answer...! I have heard a theory of freezing them with water-filled ziplocked bags stuffed inside but I was worried about damaging them so I broken them in the old fashioned way. Man that was a long way to answer... I don't know... :D
Like you have to be hazed to be a part of the doc family 🤷🏼♀️
Haha precisely - but that's a fraternity or sorority I might actually join.
I LOVE this answer! Nothing makes me happier than fascinating stories and information that come out in the comments after the already fascinating and informational story. By the way, it was hard to pick a pull quote for your story because there were so many good ones. I particularly also like the one about how the shoes play up your natural gracelessness. That and how definitive you are about declaring yourself uncool make me laugh. Thank you for this piece and this answer!
I have 3 pairs of Docs, I got them in HS or College? Now....30+ years later I am wearing them again. They are broken in, loved, and I will keep them forever. I had the brown loafer which I think I wore every day for years, and the pair I love most is my black classic boots.
My first job out of college was in consulting, corporate job and I needed a whole new wardrobe - 1997. I got a part time job at Ann Taylor unpacking boxes, cleaning up dressing rooms, sewing buttons etc...I did the grunt work. That is HARD WORK! I still recall coming home and elevating my feet and thinking how much they hurt. The only thing that I could wear to not be in such pain was my Docs, so I wore them with black wide legged pants. The managers at the store told me that they were not the "Ann Taylor vibe" which may have been true, but I told them that I could either continue to wear them or I would quit. And they let me! (I was a very hard worker). These shoes were seldom worn in the next few decades but now they are back! I now wear them to my corporate job with my wide legged jeans and I feel so cool that my vintage Docs, made in the UK, are still in my closet.
I got my first pair (black 3 hole) at a store, of which I can’t recall the name, in Royal Oak, Michigan (I wore through the sole and finally discarded them). The second pair (green 8 eye), though, I got in Dublin when we went to visit my high school exchange student! I still have them, but they’re too small!
Docs were such a serious thing growing up, a rite of passage, beginning for me in Grade 5 with the three holes. We all bought them from a place called ROCK JUNCTION which was as scary a place as it was cool. One day, I threw on a pair of my dad’s shorts and my docs with no socks before school, making my legs look like ACTUAL CHOPSTICKS. I got teased so badly that I didn’t wear shorts or a skirt (unless with five pairs of tights on) in public again for another seven years! Sounds like we all have our stories, thanks for this one!
Oh I felt so cool in my first pair of Docs and it's crazy to me that that feeling hasn't left me! Like surely at this age I should be beyond all that but NOPE! here I am decades on and feeling just as giddy at my "coolness". (Sidenote: I am not a cool person!)
Haha you are cool! In my books. I loved my first pair SO MUCH I kept licking my finger to lean over and clean every single smudge… until the cool girl at school told me they’re better worn in, stop cleaning them! 😂
In seventh grade, 1993, I saved up money from babysitting my little brother to buy my first pair of Docs (the regular black ones) at the Chatham Mall in Ellicott City, Maryland, and, the very next day at school, during art class, I swiped an exact-o knife and carved an anarchy symbol on the inside right ankle. That day, in pre-algebra, a boy passed me a note that said we should start a band called "Juvenile Delinquents"...my other Doc Martens memory is seeing a clip from MTV's House of Style with a model (I think she was British) who had a closet full of all different Doc Martens that she collected, and I was so impressed because I had never been to a store with that much variety of Docs. I had maybe two other pairs. One light brown Mary Jane pair with a butterfly hole punch pattern awl-ed into the leather; that was during my "Beck's Girlfriend" paisley phase) and the other was knee high Docs during a more "Cure" phase. Anyway, thank you for this Docs journey; I never knew this was a stereotype, but I also have never lived in NYC.
i have a similar relationship with my Birkenstocks... ;)
I liked Doc Martens 30 years ago when they were made in the UK and it took a while to break them in. Quality wise they are hot garbage now.
Can you or someone tell me about the difference? I actually had no idea. And what a bummer. It actually was over 30 years ago that I had my pair, but that's just coincidental because I'm old, not because I knew when they stopped being made well or anything. But now I want answers! And healthy Dr. Martens debate! Thanks, Paula!