Dr. Martens boots revenue falls 20% amid DTC disruption

What did the first-half numbers show?

Dr. Martens boots revenue fell 20% in the 26 weeks to September 27. The category generated 44% of group sales, against 49% a year earlier.

Group revenue fell 9.8% to £290.4 million. The decline measured 9.2% at constant currency (excluding currency movements). EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) rose 1.1% to £36.3 million.

Adjusted pre-tax loss widened to £13.7 million from £9.4 million. Tighter cost control did not offset the top-line weakness.

Shoes grew 1% and rose to 41% of revenue. Sandals also failed to make up the boots shortfall. UK revenue fell 21.3% at constant currency. October trading continued the second quarter’s mid-teens decline.

The company attributed the boots decline to exceptionally hot summer weather, particularly in Europe. Chief Executive Nwokorie tied the result to boots and planned changes to the direct-to-consumer (DTC) proposition.

He described the first-half (H1) result as disappointing: “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.”

The results disclose no boots unit volume or average selling price. That omission prevents a clean split between weather-driven demand and execution. The release also provides no line-by-line bridge from higher EBITDA to the wider adjusted loss.

What did DTC disruption do to revenue?

DTC revenue fell 12.8% at constant currency to £156.6 million. Products priced above £220 were the only price band to grow. The company did not quantify that band’s contribution.

Dr. Martens said site traffic (visits) and conversion (the share of visits producing an order) dropped after its new e-commerce platform went live across the US and Europe over the summer. The sequence identifies a business disruption during the rollout. It does not establish the platform as the sole cause.

Management’s stated strategy is to broaden consumer appeal, evolve the product mix, and reduce reliance on any category, channel or market over time. The company is also changing DTC operations, both online and in stores. No implementation timetable, target or cost-to-achieve figure accompanied the strategy.

Business-to-business (B2B) revenue fell 4.7% at constant currency. The company partly attributed the decline to shipment timing between September and October. That explanation limits how much of the quarterly shortfall can be read as final demand.

For suppliers, the shift means recorded wholesale revenue may understate orders placed during the period. The company has not said whether delayed shipments were caught up.

What must the full-year result deliver?

Gross margin held at 65.3%, defined as gross profit as a share of revenue. Marketing spend rose £3 million ahead of the “With Bouncing Soles” brand platform. Nwokorie said the Dr. Martens brand remained strong and described consumer engagement with the platform as encouraging, although the company supplied no engagement metric or campaign sales result.

In July, Dr. Martens maintained its full-year guidance on US wholesale growth. In May, it reported FY26 revenue of £764.9 million. The company now sees a wide range of possible outcomes for the year. The results do not quantify US wholesale growth or offsetting DTC weakness.

Analyst consensus stands at £777 million in revenue and £65.7 million in adjusted pre-tax profit. Those estimates are not company guidance. “Trading in the key weeks ahead will be crucial to determining our full-year outturn,” Nwokorie said.

For brand and sourcing teams, the next trading weeks will test DTC traffic, conversion and wholesale shipments against that consensus. Management has yet to quantify the effect of those changes on the full-year result.