The group lowered its full-year guidance for both revenue and earnings in a trading update, blaming “significant operational issues” and “unseasonably warm weather” in the US.

Revenues rose 3% at constant currency to £335.9 million in the three months to the end of December from a year earlier.

The gloomy news sent Dr Martens shares plunging more than 25% to 155.70 pence.

This has followed big falls already since a stock market floatation in 2021 at 370 pence per share.

Chief executive Kenny Wilson insisted that demand remained “resilient” despite “challenging conditions”.

Dr Martens had already warned in November that its performance was marred by the cost-of-living crisis, as consumers tightened their belts in the face of decades-high inflation.

“Dr Martens has been caught seriously on the back foot with operational problems at its new distribution centre in Los Angeles, piling yet more problems on the beleaguered bootmaker,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

The famous maker of boots and shoes had seen its internet sales boom worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Martens began life in 1959 as a tiny German company making orthopaedic boots.