Sales of Dr. Martens soar

Online fashion retailer ASOS has seen sales of Dr. Martens shoes rocket by 230 per cent over the last year.

BY Bibby Sowray | 20 July 2012

Model Jessica Hart wearing Dr Martens classic ankle boots. Photo: Rex

Online fashion retailer ASOS have seen sales of Dr. Martens shoes rocket, reporting a 230 per cent rise from 2011 to 2012.

The increase is in line with equally booming sales figures in France, the US and Hong Kong, and follows the company's March announcement that they had made profits of £22 million.

Read: Dr. Martens release Liberty print collection

Current owners of the company, the Northamptonshire-based Griggs family, announced in February that Dr. Martens was up for sale. Speculation followed that Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, owner of investment fund Pamplona Capital, was interested in purchasing the company for £200 million .

Oliver Tezcan, buying manager at ASOS, told The Guardian that it was not Dr. Martens signature boot style that was flying off the virtual shelf at rapid speed, but the brand's three-hole shoe - which has been worn by Alexa Chung, Rihanna and Agyness Deyn, who is an ambassador for the brand.

Another big seller for ASOS has been the brand's collaboration with luxury London department store Liberty , which saw Dr. Martens most iconic style covered in a number of Liberty's floral prints. "We knew a collaboration would highlight a really interesting discord between our two brands and bring a different audience in to Liberty. The collection sold way beyond our very high expectations," said Ed Burstell, Liberty's managing director.