Dr Martens’ creative director Darren Leon Mckoy is stepping down from the role he’s held since 2022 and away from the company he’s worked at since the mid-2010s.

In a substantial post on LinkedIn he issued “a heartfelt thank you” to the company “for an incredible decade”. 

He said he joined the business 10 years ago this week “at a time when it was ready to take bold risks. With an amazing set of passionate people—both long-standing and new—true brand ambassadors who shared an unwavering belief in its potential, we helped transform the business from a circa £136m company to a £1bn powerhouse”. 

And he added that the “journey has been nothing short of extraordinary and life-changing. Witnessing that growth and having the privilege to shape it as product director and then creative director has been an unforgettable and humbling experience”.

But “after much reflection, I made the decision early last year to step away and embrace new opportunities and creative challenges. It wasn’t an easy choice, as you can imagine, but I feel now is the right time to close this amazing chapter and start writing the next”.

As well as praising the brand and his colleagues, he signed off with “watch this space”.

Mckoy was announced as creative director in spring 2022, although he’d already been in the role for a few months. He took up the post at a time when the company, relatively newly arrived on the stock exchange, was riding high with continuously rising results.

But times have been tough in the past couple of years with the share price falling along with its sales, and some self-inflicted wounds such as its problematic LA distribution centre opening.

The problems led to a change of CEO with Kenny Wilson standing down and Ije Nwokorie taking the helm.

But the business-as-usual activities have gone on at the firm as it has launched new creative campaigns and some interesting collabs.