Dr. Martens H1 Revenue Falls 9.8% as Boot Sales Slump 20%

Dr. Martens posted a 9.8% first-half revenue decline to £290.4 million, down from £322.0 million a year earlier, as boot revenue dropped 20% — a mix shift the footwear brand's suppliers and wholesale partners will feel through the autumn/winter order book.

CEO Ije Nwokorie said on Thursday that "exceptionally hot summer weather" hit boot sales across European and U.K. markets. The reported loss narrowed to £8.5 million for H1 fiscal 2027, versus £11.0 million in the prior-year period.

"The weakness in boots combined with the impact of the planned critical changes to our direct-to-consumer proposition means that the H1 performance is disappointing," Nwokorie said. "While we saw resilience in shoes and sandals, this was not enough to mitigate the decline in boots. We lessened the impact on profit from the revenue decline with good gross margin performance and continued tight cost control."

Where the demand actually moved

The regional split matters for anyone planning factory allocation. U.S. revenue fell 5.1%, with wholesale outperforming direct-to-consumer. The U.K. dropped 21.3%. DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Japan were broadly flat year over year.

The company's other managed markets declined 12.9%, with South Korea and China showing strength — more than offset, though, by weakness in France, Italy and Spain. Q2 came in weaker than Q1.

Boots versus everything else

Boots now account for 44% of first-half revenue, down from 49% in H1 fiscal 2026. The decline wasn't uniform. Four styles performed well, per the company:

• Buzz Boot
• 1460 Dark Brown Crazy Horse
• Combs Tech
• Lowell Chukka

Core boot lines underperformed. That's a familiar pattern for heritage footwear brands: new silhouettes carry the order book while iconic staples soften.

Shoes grew 1% against tough comparables, reaching 41% of H1 revenue from 37% a year ago. Note a reporting change: Dr. Martens now counts mules within shoes, having previously grouped them with sandals. The company flagged "particularly good performance" in the Mary Jane and the Buzz shoe.

Sandals rose 5%, led by the Dunnet Flower and Zebzag models, and now represent 11% of the business, up from 10%.

What's coming in the range plan

More sandal capacity is on the way. Nwokorie said Dr. Martens will introduce a new sandals range for spring/summer 2027, and wholesale customer reaction has been "encouraging." Further innovation in the category lands in spring/summer 2028.

That signals a genuine category rebalancing, not a one-season hedge — and it shifts development and sourcing demand toward warm-weather construction for at least two seasons.

"Our central message today is straightforward," Nwokorie added. "While we are disappointed with our first-half performance, we are executing the strategy as planned. The major programs are now landing, and we are focused on delivering a second-half weighted plan with big trading weeks just ahead of us. We are delivering the transformation we committed to while continuing to take decisions for the long-term health of the brand and the business."

The sourcing read

For suppliers, the picture is straightforward. Boot volumes — especially core lines serving EMEA demand — are running well below last year, while sandals and shoes need incremental capacity into SS27 and SS28. Margin discipline and tight cost control at the brand level usually translate into tougher price negotiations upstream. If you're on Dr. Martens' supplier base, the decision this forces is capacity reallocation: away from year-round boot programs, toward spring-weight categories with firmer forward orders.