Hunter Boots! A symbol of British country life or of a hot female spy? maybe both!
Angelina Jolie made the Red Hunter boots even more famous in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (see above, she looks hot with Brad Pitt), but here is the story on how it all started!
In 1856 Mr Henry Lee Norris, an American entrepreneur, landed on Scottish soil in search of a home for his boot making company. Having acquired a block of buildings in Edinburgh, known as the Castle Silk Mills, the North British Rubber Company (which much later became known as Hunter Boot Ltd) was registered as a limited liability company in September 1856. In the beginning there were only four people working for the company, by 1875 the team had grown to 600 members of staff.
Production of wellington boots were dramatically boosted with the advent of World War I 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 demands. The fashionable boot was now a functional necessity.
For WWII they were once again called upon to supply vast quantities of wellingtons and thigh boots. 80% of production was for war materials - from ground sheets to life belts and gas masks. After WWII boot making had to move to a larger factory in Heathhall Dumfries, where the company has been based since, to deal with the rise in demand. Hunter's most famous welly, the original Green wellington, was made over 50 years ago in the winter of 1955. It was the first orthopedic boot that we made and was launched alongside the Royal Hunter - another boot that remains in Hunter's range today.
In 1977, having continued to supply wellies to the Royal Households, Hunter was awarded a Royal Warrant from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. This was shortly followed, in 1986, by a Royal Warrant from HM The Queen. Providing great recognition for their work in keeping some very important feet dry!
Today, Hunter remains the preferred welly brand for those who like to work hard and play hard - there's a great range of boots to suit welly wearers all over the world - from the Royal Family to festival-goers, working farmers and landed gentry alike.
Oxford and Cambridge boat crews all wear Hunters before and after the race: Oxford in blue boots; Cambridge in green.
The biggest Hunter ever made was a size 18 for a Derbyshire vet.
It takes a gallon of custard to fill a size 10 Hunter.
A Cumbrian farmer's pig ate her Hunters and didn't even suffer indigestion.
Well into the 20th Century, rubber was more valuable than silver.
Many rubberists ascribe aphrodisiac powers to its pungent smell, now available as a bottled scent from Parisian perfumer Jean Guton!!
Some people love their wellies so much that they give each pair a name and even have a 'Welly Naming Ceremony'
In 1974, Scottish comedian/actor Billy Connolly adopted a comical ode to the boot called 'The Welly Boot Song' as his theme tune and it became one of his best-known songs.
Paddington Bear started wearing his red wellies in 1972 when the first soft toys of the character were produced.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society lovingly describes its cask number 41.29 as "the colour of golden syrup with the scent of the inside of a welly boot".
A Yorkshire farmer requested a plastic buckle for his Hunters - the rattling kept waking up his wife as he got undressed for bed. A Hunter buckle is made from six separate pieces.
The boot has also given its name to the welly boot dance, said to have been performed by miners in Africa to keep their spirits up whilst working.
Hunter even made boots for cows! In the early 90's Hunter made the Hubble Boot which was a boot specially designed for cows.