According to the shoemaker, the quality of his favorite shoes has deteriorated.
The great popularity of Dr. Martens boots has lasted for several years, but at the same time messages about the poor quality of the shoes have increased. Iltalehti’s news manager also noticed this Emmi Oksanenwhen he bought new floral Dr. Martens to replace the old canvas boots.
The previous cloth-covered bibs lasted well over seven years, but one of the new leather bibs tore at the back seam after just a few months of use. The leather also shows scratches and signs of wear, even though Emmi has only been wearing the shoes for months. The shoemaker fixed the back seam of the broken shoe for 28 euros and said that “Dr. Nowadays, Martens boots are constantly being repaired” because of the reduced quality.
The cobbler who repaired Emmi’s shoe estimates that the quality of the leather used in the shoes has deteriorated at the same time as they have become more popular shoes.
This is how the cobbler repaired the back seam of Emmi’s boots. Emmi Oksanen
It has only been a few weeks since the shoes were repaired, so it is not clear how long it will last or how long-lasting the new leather boots will be.
– The quality of these new shoes seems to be clearly lower than the previous ones, but the price was in the same category, says Emmi.
This street-credible maihari model has been popular with the youth since the 1960s, and they have been widely associated with things like punk and grunge styles. The prices of Dr. Martens’ boots are currently moving from around one hundred and fifty euros upwards.
Many social media commentators are of the opinion that the reason behind the deterioration of quality is also the change of the shoe’s manufacturing country. We previously wrote about how Dr. Martens are considered to be traditional English, where they were once manufactured under license in several factories around the country. The brand originates from Northamptonshire.
In fact, the iconic boots have not been manufactured in the British Isles for some time, as the maximum production of the brand’s boots was moved to Asia in 2004. Because of this, many of the country’s high-end connoisseurs hunt specifically for vintage versions of boots made in England.
When the British newspaper The Guardian wrote about the deterioration of the quality of mahogany in 2019the brand management denied the phenomenon. Geert Peetersthe brand’s chief operating officer, assured the magazine at the time that the leather used in the maihars is still the same and their manufacturing method is identical to the first Dr. Martens maihar model produced on April 1, 1960.
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– Cracking of the soles of Dr. Martens is a common phenomenon. The shoe is designed to fold under the heel with the step. However, weather conditions such as freezing temperatures, combined with the lifespan of the shoes, harden the soles, making their air cushion soles more prone to breaking. At the same time, this also breaks the uppers of the shoe, because it can no longer flex when walking as before, master cobbler Ville Hasala tells.
Hasala runs a shoe company called Suutarimestari Ville in Kaisaniemi, Helsinki, where more than a hundred pairs of Dr. Martens boots are replaced each year.
– At the moment, the soles will be replaced at a rate of about 5-10 pairs per week. This autumn has clearly made Maihari fans wake up to the phenomenon and the coming winter already in advance, Ville Hasala continues.
Hasala did not repair Emmi Oksanen’s shoes, but the shoes were repaired in another shoe shop.