Hunter Boots Ltd.
Establised 1856The wellington boot, also known as rubber boot or welly, is a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots, worn and popularized by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Founded as North British Rubber Company in 1856, Hunter Boot Ltd. is the iconic wellington boot brand. Production of the Wellington boot was boosted with the advent of World War I and a requirement for footwear suitable for Europe’s flooded and muddy trenches. Hunter was asked by the War Office to construct a boot suitable for such conditions.
The company’s most famous welly, the original green wellington, was made in 1955. Thought of as more up-market than the traditional black wellington of the time, the ‘Original’ tended to be worn by middle to upper class rural people band was favored by the hunting scene. In 1980, when Lady Diana was pictured wearing a pair on the Balmoral estate during her courtship with Charles, the popularity skyrocketed.
Another notable brand is Aigle. In 1852 Hiram Hutchinson met Charles Goodyear, who had just invented the vulcanization process for natural rubber. Hutchinson bought the patent to manufacture footwear and moved to France to establish Aigle in 1853. However, the iconic green colour is invented by Hunter.
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