Max Griggs is the president of the R Griggs Group, current owner of the Dr. Martens shoe company, and one of largest shoe manufacturers in the United Kingdom. In 2002, the company ceased production in the United Kingdom and began outsourcing to China and Thailand.
The Dr Martens (nicknamed DMs) boots, having been manufactured in England since 1960, were most popular in the 1980s, but in the following decade, their popularity started to decline.
In 1992 Max Griggs bought Rushden Town and Irthlingborough Diamonds football clubs. He successfully merged them into one as Rushden & Diamonds football club, which enjoyed league status for a time. One of the stands in the club's ground was called the Airwair stand (a type of DM shoe).
Max Griggs sold the club to the fans in 2005 for £1. The club went into administration six years later.