Hunter Boot Ltd - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Hunter Boot Ltd. is a major rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...

wellington boot

Wellington boot

The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, wellingtons, topboots, billy-boots, gumboots, gummies, barnboots, wellieboots, muckboots, sheepboots, shitkickers, or rainboots are a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots...

and footwear designer which has offices in London, Edinburgh and New York. Originally known as the North British Rubber Company, the company manufactured vulcanised

Vulcanization

Vulcanization or vulcanisation is a chemical process for converting rubber or related polymers into more durable materials via the addition of sulfur or other equivalent "curatives." These additives modify the polymer by forming crosslinks between individual polymer chains. Vulcanized material is...

rubber products for over 150 years. Besides rubber boots, the company also produces other products such as bags

Bags

-Nickname:* Jeff Bagwell, a former Major League Baseball player* Milt Jackson, a famous jazz vibraphonist nicknamed "Bags"-Other:* Oxford bags, a form of baggy trousers originating from the University of Oxford* Cornhole, a game commonly referred to as bags...

, socks

SOCKS

SOCKS is an Internet protocol that routes network packets between a client and server through a proxy server. SOCKS5 additionally provides authentication so only authorized users may access a server...

and other related accessories, and historically has been involved in the manufacture of tyres

Tire

A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...

, conveyor belts, combs

Combs

-Geography:*Combs, Derbyshire, a small village in Derbyshire, England within the Peak District National Park*Combs, Suffolk, a hamlet in the English county of Suffolk*Combs, Kentucky, a US community...

, golf balls, hot water bottle

Hot water bottle

A hot water bottle is a container filled with hot water and sealed with a stopper, used to provide warmth, typically whilst in bed, but also for the application of heat to a specific part of the body....

s and rubber flooring

Flooring

Flooring is the general term for a permanent covering of a floor, or for the work of installing such a floor covering. Floor covering is a term to generically describe any finish material applied over a floor structure to provide a walking surface...

.

The Hunter Boot company was the oldest manufacturer of rubber boots in the UK. The ubiquitous Green Welly is its best known product, but the Argyll welly is probably its oldest. The Argyll pre-dates the war and the green welly. It has been the stalwart welly for farmers and country types for many years due to its comfort, ease of putting on and pulling off and hard wear. The Hunter green welly, now manufactured internationally, is favoured by the hunting, and has become a fashion item. The Argyll though is favoured by those who wear wellington boots day in and day out.

Beginnings

In the first week of January 1856 Mr Henry Lee Norris, an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

from Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...

, and his friend and partner Spencer Thomas Parmelee of New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

, landed on Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

soil for the purpose of working a patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

of Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear was an American inventor who developed a process to vulcanize rubber in 1839 -- a method that he perfected while living and working in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1844, and for which he received patent number 3633 from the United States Patent Office on June 15, 1844Although...

for the manufacture of India-rubber overshoes and boots. The two gentlemen landed in Glasgow and began by searching for a suitable factory, which they eventually found in the form of the Castle Silk Mills in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. A fine pair of condensing steam engines and boilers were included in the lease, which they were able to take up almost immediately due to the mill's partial occupation at the time. The pair were ready to begin operations in the midsummer of 1856. Originally the company was styled as Norris & Co., which existed until the first limited liability

Limited liability

Limited liability is a concept where by a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a company or partnership with limited liability. If a company with limited liability is sued, then the plaintiffs are suing the company, not its...

act was introduced to Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

- the North British Rubber Company (which much later became known as Hunter Boot Ltd) was registered as a limited liability company in September 1857.

Norris was eventually succeeded at the company by William Erskine Bartlett, a man who could well lay claim to the invention of what is considered to be the accepted type of car tyre today. It is a little known fact that in circa.1907, the fledgling British Dunlop

Dunlop Rubber

Dunlop Rubber was a company based in the United Kingdom which manufactured tyres and other rubber products for most of the 20th century. It was acquired by BTR plc in 1985. Since then, ownership of the Dunlop trade-names has been fragmented.-Early history:...

tyre company purchased the 'Bartlett' patent from the North British Rubber Company for $973,000 USD, in order to acquire the rights to manufacture and distribute tyres under the same name. It is estimated that, today, the patent would be worth in excess of $200,000,000 USD.

The company not only made rubber boots - production included tyres, conveyors, combs, golf balls, hot water bottles and rubber flooring. In the beginning there were only four people working for the company, by 1875 the team had grown to 600 members of staff.

World War I and II

Production of wellington boots were dramatically boosted with the advent of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

when the company was asked by the War Office to construct a sturdy boot suitable for the conditions in flooded trenches. The mills ran day and night to produce immense quantities of these trench boots. In total, 1,185,036 pairs were made to cope with the Army's

Army

An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

demands. The Wellington boot was an object of envy by the German soldiers during WWI and its dependability was seen to contribute to the British army’s success.

For World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

Hunter were once again called upon to supply vast quantities of wellington

Wellington boot

and thigh boots. 80% of production was for war materials - from ground sheets to life belts and gas masks. In Holland, forces were working in flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

ed conditions which demanded Wellingtons and tight boots in vast supplies.

By the end of the war the wellington had become popular among men, women and children for wear in wet weather

Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

. The boot had developed to become far roomier with a thick sole and rounded toe

Toe

Toes are the digits of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being digitigrade. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being plantigrade; unguligrade animals are those that walk on hooves at the tips of...

. Also, with the rationing

Rationing

Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...

of that time, labourers began to use them for daily work.

Post-war

After WWII, Hunter's boot making had to move to a larger factory in Heathhall, Dumfries

Dumfries

Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...

, to deal with the rise in demand. The factory was originally built for Arrol-Johnston

Arrol-Johnston

Arrol-Johnston was an early Scottish manufacturer of automobiles, which operated from 1896 to 1931 and produced the first automobile manufactured in Britain...

(later Arrol-Aster), a Scottish automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

manufacturer, in 1913, before the company liquidated in 1931. This is said to be the first factory in Britain to use ferro-concrete (concrete reinforced with metal bars), and was designed by Albert Kahn, architect of the Ford factory at Highland Park, Michigan

Highland Park, Michigan

- Geography :According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 16,746 people, 6,199 households, and 3,521 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,622.9 per square mile . There were 7,249...

, where the Model T was produced.

Hunter's most famous welly, the original Green

Green

Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...

wellington, was made over 50 years ago in the winter of 1955. It was the first orthopaedic boot made by Hunter, and was launched alongside the Royal Hunter - another boot that remains in Hunter's range today. Reaction from trade was slow, and an order of 36 pairs considered an achievement. However, the company persisted, taking them to county shows and trade fairs. Thought of as more up-market than the traditional black wellington of the time, the 'Original' tended, initially, to be worn by middle to upper class rural people, who are still sometimes referred to as the 'Green Welly Brigade'.

1966-2005: Ownership changes

In 1966, North British Rubber was bought by Uniroyal Limited of Greenville, South Carolina

Greenville, South Carolina

-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...

. Formerly known as the U.S. Rubber Company, Uniroyal is most famous for making car tyres and still operates today. In 1976, having continued to supply wellies to the Royal Households, Hunter was awarded a Royal Warrant

Royal Warrant

Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to those who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier...

from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. This was shortly followed by a Royal Warrant from HM The Queen in 1986. By this time, a pair of Hunter boots had become an essential item for those guided in upmarket country fashion. By the end of the 1980s, they were synonymous with the much caricatured figures of The Sloane Ranger Handbook

Sloane Ranger

The term Sloane Ranger refers to a stereotype in the UK of young, upper class or upper-middle-class women, or men who share distinctive and common lifestyle traits...

.

1986 also saw another change of ownership for the company, as Uniroyal was purchased by the Gates Rubber Company of Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

. From the beginning of 1987, the company was known under the name of its new owner. The company entered the drysuit market shortly after the takeover by Gates, at its peak becoming the number two producer in the market with a 35% market share. The company's fortunes continued to improve over the next ten years until, in 1996, Gates Corporation, formerly known as The Gates Rubber Company, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Tomkins plc, ending 85 years of ownership by the Gates family. Tomkins paid a reported £366m for the stake. At the time of the transaction, Gates was the largest non-tyre rubber company in the world.

Recognising the need to strengthen and build upon its positions in its core engineering markets, Tomkins began a process of streamlining its activities by disposing of a number of businesses during the period 1998-2001. In 1999, Tomkins plc sold the Consumer and Industrial Division of The Gates Rubber Company to Interfloor, the country's largest carpet underlay manufacturer. The company became the Hunter Division of Interfloor.

2004 was a busy year for the company. In early 2004, a management-led investor group acquired the Hunter Boots business of Interfloor Group Ltd for £1.98m in a leveraged buyout transaction. For the first time in its 148-year existence, Hunter became an independent, standalone company under the name of the Hunter Rubber Company.

At the end of 2004, Hunter announced that they would be releasing a range of seven different coloured wellingtons to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Green Wellington Boot. Each different coloured boot, along with the kids' range, represented one of eight charities and were used to raise funds for them. The company launched a dedicated website, www.giving-welly.co.uk, to this purpose, and by the end of the campaign had raised over £250,000 for charity.

Hunter launched several extensions to the Wellington range in mid-2005. Along with developing boots under licence for the Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society

The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...

, the Lady Northampton riding boot, combining a molded waterproof rubber and canvas upper, was also added to extend from the company's traditional all-rubber wellington boot range.

2006: Administration and buy-out

In 2006, the Hunter Rubber Company was placed into administration due to cash flow problems. In spite of a reported turnover of over £5m, accountants from KPMG

KPMG

KPMG is one of the largest professional services networks in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young and PwC. Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands....

said the firm suffered from high manufacturing costs, including fuel costs, and made a loss from the expansion of its business to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. According to documents filed with Companies House, Hunter reported a loss of £600,000 from September 2003 to the end of February 2005, when it had a net debt of £2.03m.

A private consortium

Consortium

A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....

led by Lord Marland of Odstock

Jonathan Marland, Baron Marland

Jonathan Peter Marland, Baron Marland is a British businessman and former Treasurer of the Conservative Party. He was awarded a life peerage in 2006 as Baron Marland, of Odstock in the County of Wiltshire.-Education:...

and comprising Peter Mullen, ex CEO of Thomas Pink

Thomas Pink

Thomas Pink is a retail clothing business started in London in 1984, by three Irish brothers James, Peter and John Mullen. The company was named for an 18th century London tailor who was known for making much sought-after red hunting jackets....

, and Julian Taylor, all of whom were previous shareholders in Hunter Rubber Company, supported by the Pentland Group plc, bought Hunter out of administration and Hunter Boot Ltd was born. After rapid re-structuring of the company, new supply routes and distribution partners were found in the UK and USA and the Hunter portfolio was rationalised to core products exhibiting the key skills and tradition of the company.

Hunter re-established itself as a major player in the traditional country and leisure footwear market in the UK in the aftermath of the buy-out, and positioned itself as a strong contender in the USA - opening showrooms on 7th Avenue in New York and Carnaby Street in London. A new management team was put in place, retaining many of the existing staff from Hunter Rubber.

In November 2006, Hunter Diving Ltd - the arm of Hunter Rubber that was responsible for manufacturing drysuits - was sold to Swedish rival company Trelleborg Group for an undisclosed sum.

2007-Present. The move to International manufacturing

Spring 2007 saw the relationship between Hunter and the Royal Horticultural Society further strengthened by the launch of a new range of RHS wellies at the Chelsea Flower Show in London in May. Hunter also set up the 'Century' Division to handle its global range of safety boots, and to develop new products in this sector. A little over a year later, Century Safety was acquired by the Tigar Corporation for an undisclosed sum.

Hunter Boot Ltd enjoyed a record season in summer 2007 announcing, in August, an 85% sales increase against the same period in 2006. Despite this, Hunter remained faced with major financial challenges regarding production. High manufacturing and fuel costs that contributed to the company's move into administration in 2006 remained prominent and, like many UK manufacturing

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

businesses, Hunter was forced to consider whether it was commercially viable to keep making boots in the UK. The company also had to negotiate a volatile relationship with its landlord and an expensive and inefficient 96-year-old factory. Eventually, alternative supply sources were sought and developed in Europe and the Far East and plans were made to exit the Dumfries plant and relocate the company HQ

Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

to Edinburgh

Edinburgh

. This move was finally made in September 2008. The Chinese made gumboots are visually identical to the original Scottish made gumboots apart from the addition of an internal seam. Some manufacturing efficiencies have also been made including the removal of the latex dipping process.

Hunter has formed many relationships and collaborations with other brands in 2008, further extending its reach into the USA, festival and fashion markets, while also contributing strongly to charity organisations. The company have produced bespoke versions of the classic Hunter Original boot for Jack Wills, WaterAid, Cowshed and Fortnum & Mason, as well as a trench coat designed by Suzy Radcliffe, owner of denim brand Radcliffe.

In September 2008, following the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, Hunter Boot Ltd sent specially made gold wellington boots to every member of the Great Britain

Great Britain

Olympic team who won a gold medal at the games.

In January 2009, Hunter announced that would be collaborating with London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

-based luxury fashion

Fashion

Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...

designer Jimmy Choo

Jimmy Choo

Dato' Jimmy Choo, OBE, born Choo Yeang Keat, is a Malaysian fashion designer based in London, United Kingdom. He is best known for founding Jimmy Choo Ltd that became known for its handmade women's shoes....

for a limited edition black wellington boot, embossed with signature Jimmy Choo crocodile print and containing gold rivets and a leopard-print lining. The boots are due to become available in June 2009.

Hunter has since moved its London office to Fitzrovia, and has seen strong growth with international distribution in over 30 countries.