Dr Martens

Image Kilian Seiler on Unsplash

I was impressed last week when I read that Dr Martens had repaid the money it had received for furloughing staff - well played by one of the remaining honourable, independently owned Great British Companies, I thought. On the back of that I decided to go and buy a new pair as they have been on my list to get for some time.

I didn't bother because looking into it further, the company sold out in 2013 and is yet another name to add to the list of those who put huge income before values. I grew up with Dr Martens, and they represented everything that my Gen X upbringing stood for: independence, individuality, and more than a little of not pandering to the status quo. And they did it all with exemplary quality and high design standards.

This volte face is a two fingered response by a company whose principles underlined a significant part of helping my generation walk a path of original thinking, activism, and the courage to call out those who had tried to control and manipulate us. Now we're going back to where we started, but this time it feels we are becoming even more suppressed, with every step along the path of democracy, decency, and hope being disintegrated and destroyed forever under the hob-nailed stomping of greed and globalisation.

There are still companies around that are driven by consumer satisfaction and high quality standards; these companies are not the cheapest, but they deliver well made products that will last a lifetime, crafted by people who are trained in a skill, and paid commensurately. They range from the long-established: Yard-o-Led in Birmingham who make exquisite hand made fountain pens and pencils, and Ernest Wright in Sheffield who use traditional methods and high grade materials to create hard wearing scissors for many applications; to the modern incarnations of sensible consumerism: Jackson’s Art Supplies who package exquisitely and ship internationally, Will’s Vegan Store in London who produce beautiful footwear, accessories and clothes, Mast Brothers who handcraft chocolate in New York, and the well established but still vibrant and fresh, the incomparable and wonderful Annie Sloan in Oxford.

I would love to know which companies you believe support and uphold the values that are important to you; please share your suggestion in the comments below!

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