Dr Martens collaborates with NTS for music-inspired 'Don't Assume' shoe

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 21, 2023

Collaborations are hugely important to Dr Martens and the footwear brand is set to launch one with global music platform and radio station NTS on Friday (22 June) “to celebrate individuality in all its forms”. 

Under banner headlines including ‘A bond formed through music’ and ‘A desire to do things differently’ the new release is billed as a “symbol of self-expression”.

Which brings us to the product, with the DM’s x NTS collaboration seeing the footwear brand’s cult classic 1461 Smooth Leather Oxford shoe “undergo a bold refresh”. 

By printing the radio station’s legendary mantra ‘Don’t Assume’ on the shoe, Dr Martens said it has “created a standout silhouette that emboldens its wearers”.

“With over six decades of experience at the feet of subcultures, taking our wearers through protests, festivals and everyday rebellion, we’ve written pages in the alternative history books”, it said. This legacy of non-conformity “is mirrored by NTS in their anti-ordinary aesthetic that celebrates creativity, fluidity and authenticity.”

The need to defy convention – and wear the right shoes to do it – is mirrored in the collaboration’s campaign shoot. It includes the work of two artists “known for blending boundaries and going against musical norms”. 

Clarisse Prevost we’re told embodies both the feminine and the masculine, while Belec traverses a multitude of genres – “making them both undefinable… and the ultimate representation of our brands’ shared ethos”.