Hunter Wellies wade off into the sunset
Joining what used to be Scotland’s Silicon Glen, manufacturing costs in this country have driven the makers of the famous Green Hunter Wellington boot overseas.
Having survived their first brush with the administrator in 2006, the company succeeded in surviving a number of trial, but has had to yield to economics and transfer its production to places such as Serbia, China, and Brazil. The changes are expected to see its head office move from it Heathhall works near Dumfries, and result in the loss of up to 22 jobs - with only seven employed in boot manufacture. In 2006, staff numbered 101, with most involved in manufacturing, and the company ranked amongst the largest employers in Dumfries.
Beginning as the North British Rubber Company in Edinburgh in 1856, it made its place by using a new process to cure and stabilise the rubber - vulcanising. World War I saw its fortunes lift, as the War Office needed waterproof boots for troops fighting in flooded trenches, and almost 1.2 million pairs were supplied. Taking the place of another Scottish manufacturer that sadly succeeded in becoming a failure, they moved to Dumfries in 1946 after acquiring the factory of the Arroll Johnston motor company, which had gone into receivership and closed in 1931.
Your scribe has had a pair of faithful Hunters for years, and is not a member of the ‘horsey’ set. His are still as good new, despite having been across a fair number of muddy fields in search of various artefacts related to the country’s First, Second, and Cold War remains, and have survived the attentions of various noxious materials they’ve had to plough through, both animal-made and man-made in some instances, as pollution comes in numerous guises.
While that sort of crap can generally be removed with some soap and water, a splash of disinfectant and a hose, nothing can remove the embarrassment that has come to be associated with a pair of Hunters ever since ‘Celebrities’ began to consider they were ‘Kewl’ to be seen in, But, since they work (the Green Wellies, NOT the useless celebrities), they still get thrown in the back of the car when they’re needed (unlike the celebrities, who’d be thrown under the car.)
The thought of Hunter wellies being made in China is a bit of a shock. The Chinese are very good at imitating things, it is true, so there is going to be very little difference between the China-made Hunters and the original Scottish-made Hunters as far as new wellies are concerned.
The real test is whether the Chinese-made ones will last as long. The reports I am getting suggest that this is not a good move, with the soles failing or cracking after a few years (the originals would go on for a decade or longer).