Shares in Dr. Martens dropped by over 14% earlier today, after the footwear retailer saw its revenue fell by 9.8% to £290.4m, as its performance was impacted by the hot summer and continued boots decline.

The company reported that its US revenue was down 5.1% year-on-year in the six months to 27 September, as B2B revenue were impacted by shipment timing differences year-on-year.

Meanwhile, its UK revenue plummeted 21.3%, following the continued impact of a challenging market backdrop and a weak performance in both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and boots.

In its DACH and Japan regions, revenue was broadly flat, while other managed markets dropped by 12.9% year-on-year, with strength in South Korea and China offset by weakness in France, Italy and Spain.

In this period, Dr Martens reported a loss before tax of £13.1m, following a loss of £9.4m in the previous year, while its net bank debt totalled £158.9m, which is broadly in line with H1 2025.

CEO at Dr Martens, Ije Nwokorie, stated: "Our strategy is focused on broadening our consumer appeal, evolving our product mix so that we’re less reliant on any one category, channel or market over time, and making the critical changes to our Direct to Consumer “DTC” proposition, both online and in our stores.

"During the first half we experienced a challenging period for our core boots category, which was impacted by the exceptionally hot summer weather. The weakness in boots combined with the impact of the planned critical changes to our DTC proposition means that the H1 performance we’re announcing today is disappointing, with Group revenue down 9% CC. While we saw resilience in shoes and sandals, this was not enough to mitigate the decline in boots."

Dr Martens said that it continues to navigate a challenging trading environment, yet its October group revenue showed signs of improvement relative to a "very weak September".

The firm said it had seen early positive signs of consumer cut-through with its new brand platform, ‘With Bouncing Soles’.

The retailer said that it is focused on execution in the weeks ahead, with November, December and early January being crucial for its full year outturn, following Black Friday, Christmas and post-Christmas sales.

As a result, its sell-side revenue is set to reach £777, while its profit before tax consensus is set to land at £65.7m.

Nwokorie concluded: "The Dr. Martens brand remains strong and we are seeing encouraging consumer engagement being generated by our new ‘With Bouncing Soles’ brand platform. Trading in the key weeks ahead will be crucial to determining our full year outturn."

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