Dr Martens dips toes into recycled leather business

Dr Martens is to begin incorporating recycled leather into its products after taking part in an $18m (c. £14.5m) funding round for Gen Phoenix, which produces environmentally-friendly leather at its base in Peterborough, reports suggest.

The funding round was led by Material Impact and attracted a plethora of big names including luxury brand group Tapestry and the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover, InMotion Ventures.

Previously known as ELeather, Gen Phoenix is the world’s largest producer of recycled leather. Its CEO John Kennedy said: “We look forward to extending our vision of circularity to new markets and providing our customers, strategic partners and end consumers with best-in-class circular materials.

“We’re thrilled to be working with a consortium of like-minded, sustainability-focused partners across a variety of sectors.”

It is understood Dr Martens will introduce the product at its manufacturing facility in Northampton early next year.

Dr Martens has had a mixed year to date. Shares in the company crashed by more than 20% in January after it warned of a sizeable drop in full-year EBITDA.

The iconic firm blamed the slump on “people and process” errors at its distribution centre in Los Angeles, and responded by opening three temporary facilities nearby.

At the time, Dr Martens CEO Kenny Wilson said the “significant” operational issues in LA would impact the brand’s bottom line.