Dr. Martens kicks off the year in line with expectations
Dr. Martens reported that trading in the Americas Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) channel remains positive, driven by full-price sales, particularly in retail. The APAC business is also growing, with South Korea performing particularly strongly thanks to its “well-established” shoe category. On the contrary, the EMEA DTC business remains more volatile, with the “UK business in particular continuing to experience a challenging trading backdrop”.
Looking ahead, “the Autumn/Winter order books are healthy globally”, pointed out the company. The EMEA order book has increased year-on-year, while the Americas order book remains consistent with last year’s figures, although based on a much wider product range than before. However, as usual, its performance will be weighed towards the second half of the year, particularly from a profit perspective.
Overall, Dr. Martens has reiterated its outlook for the full year 2026 and is remaining focused on its new consumer-first ‘Lever for Growth’ strategy, aimed at returning to growth this year. This builds on the work undertaken in the last fiscal year to stabilise the business.
“The strategy capitalises on the clear strengths of the business today and taps into the significant new markets and profit pools that are available to us. It is centred on engaging more consumers, driving more product purchase occasions, curating market-right distribution and simplifying the operating model”, recalled the company in the statement.
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