Dr Martens flags new boots for World Cup

Dr Martens, the heavy-duty footwear brand, has developed a range of World Cup boots, which feature a selection of national flags painted on the toes.

Variations of the boot bearing the Union Jack and the Stars & Stripes will go on sale in time for France 98, while other boots with Scotland’s St Andrews flag, the

European Union flag and the Norwegian flag have been presented at shoe fairs.

The idea came from Dr Martens’ Norwegian distributor, who wanted to capitalise on his country’s euphoria after the national team qual ified for the World Cup finals in France.

He is hoping to sell 40,000 pairs of boots with Norwegian flags.

In a separate move, the company is launching its first broadcast ad campaign in the autumn.

In the UK, it will be screened in cinemas, in France it will run on MTV and in cinemas, and in the US on terrestrial TV, satellite and cinema.

The ads have been devised by Staffordshire-based agency Harrison Carloss.

The company launched its first print advertising campaign last year, which ran in Loaded, FHM, NME, Select and various US titles.

This year Dr Martens has increased press spend and in March it plans to run ads in Maxim, Loaded, ID, The Face, Arena, FHM, Dazed & Confused, Frank, Sugar and Bliss.

Dr Martens sells 2 million pairs of shoes and boots in the UK annually and about 12 million pairs around the world.