Chopova Lowena Picks Dr. Martens' Aurix Over the 1460

Chopova Lowena made the right call building its Dr. Martens collaboration on the Aurix. Most designers reach for the 1460 boot, the eight eyelet thing everyone already owns. Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena went to a box toe shoe the brand only brought back this summer, and they're running it in three shapes.

Dr. Martens calls it "old world references, a new world shoe." It's the third collection in the brand's Statements in Craft series, and it's coming soon.

That tagline undersells it.

Chopova Lowena Skipped the 1460

Statements in Craft pairs Dr. Martens with young London labels, and the series opened with MHL., Sage Nation, Chopova Lowena and Labrum. The brand coined a phrase for what these designers do, "alternative craft," and set it next to the handwork that still goes into its Northamptonshire made boots. Sage Nation's London collab went first, as a single teaser photograph in September before the shoes were on sale.

Chopova Lowena is a better fit than most. Chopova and Lowena met at Central Saint Martins, and their signature carabiner skirt came out of their 2017 graduate collection. It's a pleated kilt hung from a leather belt with climbing clips, cut from upcycled Bulgarian fabric that nods to Chopova's family and the folk aprons of the 19th century.

Folk dress plus punk hardware. Dr. Martens has been the punk half of that pairing since the 1460 arrived in 1960.

The shoes first showed on the label's Spring Summer 2027 runway at London Fashion Week, at the Bloomsbury Lanes bowling alley, where coverage described stompy silhouettes in Chopova Lowena tartans and faux fur. Wallpaper reported that the line is built around checkered finishes, faux fur and buckles. The designers told Dazed the pairing felt natural because their own team wears Docs.

Emily Lipson photographed the campaign, and Chopova Lowena styled it. The face is a member of Amyl and the Sniffers, the Melbourne punk band that started in a share house in 2016.

Jim 8B01 Is Where the Aurix Starts

The Aurix isn't a legacy shape. Dr. Martens launched it in its Spring Summer 2026 collection, reworking two early 2000s shoes from its archive, the Jim 8B01 and Jim 8B02, with more cushioning underfoot. It went on sale on June 25, 2026.

The mainline version runs in satin finish leather with a squared off box toe. There's a five eyelet shoe with a padded collar, a slip on mule with a low profile, a 5i boot and a mid calf Hi boot with a side zip and contrast stitching.

That's the part I'd tell a friend about. A box toe is an early 2000s shape, the toe of a shoe you'd have worn to a gig in a bad year for denim. Putting tartan and faux fur on it is a joke the 1460 can't make, because the 1460 is too familiar to read as anything except a Doc.

Three shapes also gives Chopova Lowena room. A mule, a lace up and a boot cover three different outfits, and the label's whole look is built on piling things together.

Shoes Are Carrying Dr. Martens Right Now

The business case backs the pick. Dr. Martens said shoe revenue rose 19 percent across its 2026 financial year. In the first half, pairs of the Adrian tassel loafer grew 24 percent, and the Black Polished Smooth Adrian became the brand's second best selling direct to consumer product.

Boots aren't where the momentum is. Shoes are.

The company needs it. Modern Retail reported this month that Dr. Martens is revamping its stores. Chief brand and product officer Carla Murphy is leading the turnaround, with Neil Cummings as global brand creative director on the With Bouncing Soles platform that launched on September 24.

So a collaboration on a shoe, a newer one, with a designer who has a cult following among people who don't own a pair yet, is a smart place to spend a slot.

Nobody Buys a Mule to Stomp In

The 1460 sells itself, though. It's the boot people recognize from across a room. Even Rick Owens built his fifth Dr. Martens collaboration in September on a sole unit people already know. A collab on the classic sells to anyone who walks past it. A collab on the Aurix asks the buyer to learn a new shoe first.

The mule is the hardest version to sell to a Docs loyalist. It doesn't have the weight or the ankle of the boot, and Chopova Lowena's fans already pay four figures for a skirt.

I'd still take the Aurix. The 1460 has been the default collab canvas for decades, and by now a tartan 1460 would look like every other tartan 1460. A box toe in faux fur from a label that started with Bulgarian aprons looks like nothing Dr. Martens has sold before.

Three shapes, tartan and faux fur, on a box toe the brand pulled out of its own archive.