Off Brand

How Dr. Martens Became the Most Surprising IPO of the Pandemic

The rebel boot persisted — even when no one was wearing shoes

Photo illustration; image sources: UniversalImagesGroup, Gisela Schober, Daniel Giry/Getty Images

A hip, young marketer at a hip, young agency once admitted to me something memorable. Getting a cool new brand off the ground wasn’t really the hard part of his job, he told me. What was hard was making that…