Simple Black Boots? The Team Re-Energizing Dr. Martens Is Onto Wilder Things (EXCLUSIVE)

Highsnobiety is a global fashion and media brand passionate about product and the stories that shape them.

Feb 2, 2025 - 12:30

Simple Black Boots? The Team Re-Energizing Dr. Martens Is Onto Wilder Things (EXCLUSIVE)

Across nearly seven decades, Dr. Martens has been many things. It’s been a rough-and-ready workwear company, a subcultural signifier, and, in the early aughts, yet another nearly bankrupt heritage label.

But through it all, Dr. Martens’ footwear has always been distinctly Dr. Martens: Yellow stitched soles, big leather boots, notoriously painful to break in. The essence of the brand has barely changed. And the new generation of Dr. Martens designers isn’t going to upset that hard-engrained heritage, though they are going to toy with it throughout 2025.

Dr. Martens will never stop making black leather boots but, as these designers know, the brand is also so much more.

“The rich heritage and craftmanship that Dr. Martens is built on remain key ingredients in all of our products,” Joel Wilson, Dr. Martens' design lead, tells Highsnobiety.

“We are really proud of our roots but sometimes DM’s can be pigeonholed into one specific category associated with the punk rocker aesthetic, I don’t think many people know how versatile our range is today.”

Wilson, who’s been with Dr. Martens for over seven years, is one of the key figures shaping its evolution ahead of 2025’s 65th anniversary celebrations. His designers at 14XX, the shoemaker’s in-house design incubator launched in late 2023, are responsible for some of the most advanced, borderline-unrecognizable Dr. Martens ever conceived.

Modular designs with a protective shroud, “Megalaced” Rick Owens boots, thickened derbies whose hefty soles sit atop their laces: the output of Dr. Martens 14XX is experimental by any definition. Its first release for 2025, the EXOSHIELD XX01, borrows detailing from an archival workboot to create a bulky silhouette with shiny, curved paneling and a steel toe.

This ain’t fashion for fashion’s sake. And, though these aren’t your average Docs, they are definitely still Docs.

As such, 14XX toes the line between a Dr. Martens tribute act and a no-holes-barred testing ground for newness. But it’s also a first taste of what’s next for the entirety of Dr. Martens.

14XX doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It's a guiding light for the many out-there in-line releases that Dr. Martens is dishing with increasing frequency, like that one deliriously textural crocheted clog, that other chunked-up grunge boat shoe called the Lowell, and those square-toed loafers.

“It always surprises me that people aren’t aware of the sheer scope of our product offering outside of our signature boots handwriting,” says Frances Stacey, product line manager at Dr. Martens. “2024 was a big year for reaching new wearers through our square toe range, Lowell, and Anistone boot. We’ve also developed a loyal sandals buyer.”

Sandals? Why stop there — the big black boot brand is even diving deep on sneakers. New for 2025, its “Buzz” model is a cross between Dr. Martens’ signature 5-eye lace-up and a sneaker. Plus, a cult favorite model, the "Elphie", is returning to the line-up for 2025, a dainty ballet flat combined with that classic, chunky Dr. Martens sole unit.

If there was any doubt about the company's range of shoes, Dr. Martens' 2025 line-up is a testament to it being so much more than just simple boots. And that's without the help of its typically genre-bending collaborations.

In the not-too-distant past, Dr. Martens’ collaborations were its main outlet for out-there innovation. No longer: Its in-house offerings have become increasingly left field. And the establishment of 14XX has been instrumental in making this happen.

In a way, you can think of 14XX as a form of ongoing internal collaboration, where Dr. Martens’ brightest minds continually come together to create a freshness that drives the entire company forward.

“The intent with 14XX is to inspire wearers with innovation whilst energizing the wider business and informing future mainline product ranges,” says Wilson. “It’s the pinnacle of our design innovation.”

Visit Highsnobiety to view this part of the article.