Dr. Martens creative director Darren Leon McKoy steps down

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Darren McKoy, former creative director for Dr. Martens. Credits: Dr. Martens.

"A huge thank you to Dr. Martens for an incredible decade," said Darren Leon McKoy upon announcing his departure as global creative director of the British shoe brand on LinkedIn.

"Exactly 10 years ago, I joined the brand at a time when it was ready to take bold risks," his statement continued. "With an extraordinary group of passionate people, both long-standing and new, true ambassadors for the brand who shared an unshakable belief in its potential, we helped transform the business from around 136 million pounds to a one billion pound business."

“After much thought, I decided early last year to step away and embrace new creative opportunities and challenges. It wasn’t an easy decision, as you can imagine, but I feel like the time is right to close out this amazing chapter and begin writing the next,” McKoy added.

McKoy exits after 10 years at Dr. Martens

McKoy joined the company in January 2015 as global category manager for footwear before being promoted to global director of product and merchandising in 2017. In November 2021, he was named global creative director.

McKoy’s resume also includes several product manager and category manager roles at companies such as VF Corp, Adidas and Asics.

Dr Martens has seen revenues plunge in the first half of the year. For the 26 weeks to 29 September 2024, revenue fell 18 percent at real exchange rates to 324.6 million pounds.

Adjusted EBIT, however, fell to a loss of 4.3 million pounds from a profit of 39.7 million pounds a year earlier. Adjusted pre-tax profit also showed a loss of 17.9 million pounds, down from a previously reported profit of 25.2 million pounds.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.IT. It was translated to English using an AI tool called Genesis and edited by Rachel Douglass..

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