Australian work boots
Encyclopedia
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
upper bound together with elastic
Elastomer
An elastomer is a polymer with the property of viscoelasticity , generally having notably low Young's modulus and high yield strain compared with other materials. The term, which is derived from elastic polymer, is often used interchangeably with the term rubber, although the latter is preferred...
sides and pull tabs on the front and back of the boot. The shoe lacks a tongue, and laces
Shoelaces
Shoelaces, which are also called shoe-strings, shoe laces, or boot laces, are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both ends with stiff sections, known as aglets...
, and often contains a steel toe cap for occupational health and safety reasons. When the shoe contains a steel cap they are often known as "safety boots" or "steel toe boots". The boots generally lack an inner lining. The sole is generally polyurethane
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
and the leather uppers are treated to be resistant to hot water, fats and mild alkaline and acid solutions.
The elasticated side design allows the wearer to easily slip their boots on and off without the hassle of laces, but with the firm fit of lace-up boots. There are several Australian companies manufacturing boots in this classic style today. Some of the more popular brands are Blundstone
Blundstone Footwear
Blundstone Footwear is an Australian footwear manufacturer, based in Hobart, Tasmania. The company's best-known product is its line of laceless, elastic-sided, ankle-length boots...
(perhaps the original dating back to 1870), Rossi Boots
Rossi Boots
Rossi Boots is an Australian work boot company. Rossi employs 90 staff in the Adelaide suburb of Hilton, making it Australia's second largest work boots company. All Rossi boots are made in Australia in their Hilton factory....
(established in 1910 and still manufactured in Australia) and R. M. Williams
R. M. Williams
Reginald Murray Williams AO, CMG was an Australian bushman and entrepreneur who rose from a swagman, to a millionaire. Widely known as just 'R.M.', he was born at Belalie North near Jamestown in the Mid North, 200 kilometres north of Adelaide, into a pioneering settler family working and training...
. In Australian English
Australian English
Australian English is the name given to the group of dialects spoken in Australia that form a major variety of the English language....
, the manufacturer's brand name is often associated generically with this style of boot, leading to the names Blundstones, RMs or Rossis.
The shoes are typically worn as safety boots in occupationally hazardous environments, as ordinary work boots for people whose work is occasionally hazardous and who need to enter hazardous sites, as formal dress boots, as riding boots, or for particular aesthetic purposes. In the last category, the Novocastrian dance ensemble Tap Dogs
Tap Dogs
"Tap Dogs" is a tap dance show, created by Australian dancer and choreographer, Dein Perry. The original production of the show had its world premiere in January 1995 at the Sydney Theatre Festival in Australia....
uses modified work boots as tap shoes. They are unsuitable for motorcycle riding, as they are likely to be pulled off in a crash.
They are very similar in style to Chelsea boots, although Australian Work Boots are stronger and tougher than the Chelsea Boots.