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Hunter
HUNTER, THE RUBBER RAIN BOOT SINCE 1856
HENRY LEE NORRIS FOUNDED HUNTER IN EDINBURGH IN 1856
The most British of boot brands was founded by an American. In 1856, inventor Henry Lee Norris moved to Edinburgh, in the Castle Silk Millsbuildings, and created North British Rubber Company. He brought his skilled workers and machines from across the Atlantic to produce the first rubber Wellington boot.
The choice of Scotland was not sentimental: Norris had access to the vulcanization process that Goodyear had just patented, and it is this technology that suddenly made a waterproof, flexible and durable boot possible. It all starts from there.
WHY THE BOOT HUNTER IS CALLED A WELLINGTON
The name predates rubber by forty years. In 1817, Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, asks his bootmaker to modify his riding boots: he wants a fitted shape, free of tassels, comfortable on horseback but elegant enough for social life. The British aristocracy took it over, and the name remained attached to the silhouette.
The decisive shift took place in the mud. During World War I, the factory produced over a million pairs for the British Army, intended to prevent trench foot caused by prolonged exposure to humidity. It was when the soldiers returned that the rubber boot became an acceptable civilian object, then l'uniforme of the English countryside.
THE ORIGINAL BOOT HUNTER : 28 PIECES ASSEMBLED BY HAND
TheOriginal Boot came out in 1956 and has hardly changed since. Each pair has 28 pieces cut by hand according to a three-dimensional pattern, assembled on a aluminium shape specific to the brand, for assembly which takes place over three days. Natural latex comes from responsibly managed plantations in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
The rest is a matter of mandates and images. Royal Warrant from the Duke of Edinburgh in 1976, from the Queen in 1986. In 1981, Princess Diana wore Hunter in her engagement photos: the boot left the countryside. In 2005, Kate Moss at Glastonbury made it the unofficial festival accessory. The Victoria & Albert Museum sums up the movement well: from the 1980s, the Wellington became the accessory of a wealthy urban clientele who idealized the lifestyle of the rural gentry.
CHELSEA BOOTS HUNTER : DOWNPOUR AND ELEMENTS
The entire range does not go up to the knee. The Downpour Chelsea is the lightest and easiest to slip into a bag, theElements Elastic Chelsea uses its side gussets to slip on with one movement, and theElements Neoprene Chelsea adds a lining neoprene that changes everything as soon as the temperature drops.
Two colors structure the selection: black, and this Dark Olive which is none other than the direct heir of the country green which has become the signature color of the house. A short rain boot can be worn with slightly hiked-up jeans or tapered pants, never with a cut that is too wide and would come up against the upper. On the bootsside, it neighbors the Dr Martens and the Timberland, and with the UGG as soon as winter sets in. These are especially the kind of shoes that we leave near the front door rather than at the back of a cupboard: a rain boot is only useful if it is within reach.
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