Dr. Martens history can be traced back to the end of the Second World War, when Klaus Maertens, a doctor in the German military, designed boots with air-cushioned soles after injuring himself on a ski trip. But its corporate origins lie in Britain, where the brand’s fortunes have been intertwined with pop culture for half a century. It began in Northampton, a town so steeped in the tradition of shoe-making that the local soccer team is known as the Cobblers. In 1960, a bootmaker based in this sleepy part of the English midlands, Bill Griggs, bought patent rights to the German doctor’s design, anglicized the name, and started manufacturing …