Hunter wellies

[wisdom]

Just read that Hunter wellies are going into administration.Since they stopped being made for work and country folk,they went up in price,down in quality and just a fashion accessory no surprise really as they were very poor.

I had a pair of Royal hunters in the 80's wore the. Nearly every day and they lasted years.

[wymberley]

8 minutes ago, wisdom said:

Just read that Hunter wellies are going into administration.Since they stopped being made for work and country folk,they went up in price,down in quality and just a fashion accessory no surprise really as they were very poor.

I had a pair of Royal hunters in the 80's wore the. Nearly every day and they lasted years.

70's for me, studded version. When the time came they were replaced by another make as the quality downturn was upon us.

[benbobailey]

39 minutes ago, wisdom said:

Just read that Hunter wellies are going into administration.Since they stopped being made for work and country folk,they went up in price,down in quality and just a fashion accessory no surprise really as they were very poor.

I had a pair of Royal hunters in the 80's wore the. Nearly every day and they lasted years.

Hunter wellies were originally produced in Dumfries by the North British Rubber Company,then Uniroyal and finally Gates. The company produced many different products, safety boots, agricultural boots, waders, carpet underlay, bathing caps, golf balls, industrial belts etc.

The quality was excellent and the reputation well deserved. The boots were hand made and every pair inspected and tested. However due to the loss of big industrial orders ( the company provided boots to all the coal mines, steel works, railways etc and heavy belts to British manufacturing) combined with cheap  moulded imports they could not survive. The name was bought out and production moved to far east.

Prior to rubber manufacturing,  Arrol Johnson motor cars were built on site. The factory still stands, empty and derelict and sadly no longer providing employment to the local community.

Adjacent to the original factory is a newer Gates  manufacturing drive belts for vehicles.

  Overall it is a story often heard re British industry.

Edited June 22, 2023 by benbobailey

[udderlyoffroad]

1 hour ago, benbobailey said:

Overall it is a story often heard re British industry.

Er...not quite...

From an article in The Times (paywall) but here's the relevant quote:

Quote

Yet even I, non-Hunter-purist that I am, caught my breath at an email I received from the brand precisely a week ago announcing a “one of a kind boot with Elton John and Swarovski” with “rainbow crystals along the backstrap, ‘E for Elton’ star motifs inside, and all-over sparkling silver crystals covering the rest of the boot”. They were conceived to celebrate Elton’s first appearance at Glastonbury.

Became a 'fashion' brand, have essentially only one product line, get caught out when fashion changes.  At least Barbour diversified away from just doing wax jackets, even if the quality is not what it was.

 

[benbobailey]

4 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Er...not quite...

From an article in The Times (paywall) but here's the relevant quote:

Became a 'fashion' brand, have essentially only one product line, get caught out when fashion changes.  At least Barbour diversified away from just doing wax jackets, even if the quality is not what it was.

 

You are discussing the Hunter boots produced in far east by a company who purchased the Hunter name from original British company.

 My post is about the original factory in Dumfries which fell victim to many outside influences, which effected so much, nearly all, British manufacturing at that time.

 There's not many goods now which sport a Made in Britain label.

[countryman]

Used to be the wellies you would all ways buy when they were proper boots for hard use in the countryside, I am surprised Barbour have not gone the same way with there wafer thin jackets, Hunter wellies and and a Barbour Solway was my favourite kit back in the day.

[wisdom]

Countryman me too

[marsh man]

I used to buy the Hunter Balmoral with the neo lining , the early boots were brilliant , cold feet were a thing of the past and I would get a full year with no signs of any leaks and then another year for beating and game shooting , then things started to change for the worse , one pair the soles came apart then another pair the back seam came apart , at the time I was buying them from Uttings in Norwich and they were very good in exchanging anything that went wrong and they must have got fed up with me as I took three pairs back before any warranty ran out , in the end I stopped buying Hunter as nobody had a good word to say about the boots , shame really as the first ones I bought were way above any other boots I had worn for wildfowling . 

[Dave at kelton]

4 hours ago, benbobailey said:

Hunter wellies were originally produced in Dumfries by the North British Rubber Company,then Uniroyal and finally Gates. The company produced many different products, safety boots, agricultural boots, waders, carpet underlay, bathing caps, golf balls, industrial belts etc.

The quality was excellent and the reputation well deserved. The boots were hand made and every pair inspected and tested. However due to the loss of big industrial orders ( the company provided boots to all the coal mines, steel works, railways etc and heavy belts to British manufacturing) combined with cheap  moulded imports they could not survive. The name was bought out and production moved to far east.

Prior to rubber manufacturing,  Arrol Johnson motor cars were built on site. The factory still stands, empty and derelict and sadly no longer providing employment to the local community.

Adjacent to the original factory is a newer Gates  manufacturing drive belts for vehicles.

  Overall it is a story often heard re British industry.

Yes and a shop selling seconds over the road. Could get real bargains where colour had gone. The whole site is now a disgrace and more like a bomb site!

[benbobailey]

9 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

Yes and a shop selling seconds over the road. Could get real bargains where colour had gone. The whole site is now a disgrace and more like a bomb site!

Yes, a sorry sight! I took many visiting shooters to the shop over the years, and all left happy after another bargain from the lovely Peggy.

  The factory provided work for generations of families and many met their partners on shift. A big loss to the town along with the other lost employers, Carnation, Liquid Packaging, ICI and Nobel Explosives, Clean-cut Clothiers, all the wool/ knitwear factories etc etc etc.

 Changed days in an ever faster changing world!

[udderlyoffroad]

16 hours ago, benbobailey said:

You are discussing the Hunter boots produced in far east by a company who purchased the Hunter name from original British company.

Ah silly of me, how dare I stay on-topic from the OP's original post 😂

In any case, if Wikipedia is accurate there's far more to the story of ownership than you allude to, it's not simply a case of purchasing the name/brand.

They were already US-owned in 1966(!), and if anything in the early 2000s ownership was 'on-shored' in a management buy out. Looks like production finally shifted in 2008.

All this is a long way of saying, those of us under half a century in age have no memory of it being anything other than a fashion brand, and finding good boots is hard to do, as the countless threads on here pertaining to that very subject prove.

 

[London Best]

2 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

 

All this is a long way of saying, those of us under half a century in age have no memory of it being anything other than a fashion brand, and finding good boots is hard to do, as the countless threads on here pertaining to that very subject prove.

 

Finding good quality anything becomes increasingly difficult every year (day!). 
My problem is, when I buy anything I expect it to last for the rest of my life.

[benbobailey]

53 minutes ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Ah silly of me, how dare I stay on-topic from the OP's original post 😂

In any case, if Wikipedia is accurate there's far more to the story of ownership than you allude to, it's not simply a case of purchasing the name/brand.

They were already US-owned in 1966(!), and if anything in the early 2000s ownership was 'on-shored' in a management buy out. Looks like production finally shifted in 2008.

All this is a long way of saying, those of us under half a century in age have no memory of it being anything other than a fashion brand, and finding good boots is hard to do, as the countless threads on here pertaining to that very subject prove.

 

A big " if" regarding Wikipedia of course!

   Anyway, have a lovely day.

[Daz45]

Hunters great in the 70,s I had a pair plus Royal Hunters. If you were about Dumfries where thy were made
you could walk in and buy them from the factory shop.
I used to sell them as an agricultural trade in the late 70s  for around £16!

[udderlyoffroad]

1 hour ago, London Best said:

Finding good quality anything becomes increasingly difficult every year (day!). 
My problem is, when I buy anything I expect it to last for the rest of my life.

As I have slightly more disposable income than I used to, I've been moving to a more buy-once-cry-once philosophy, and have the luxury of being less price-conscious.  So whilst I'm not expecting most of the stuff I purchase to 'see me out', I am expecting it to have a good go.  And so far, disappointments have been in the minority.

So I don't know what you're purchasing, or what's let you down, but I find places like PW a good research tool. 

People of the older generation say they like to hold something and feel the quality before they buy.  Where this falls down is that most of retail is, in effect selling tat.  Either a specialist retailer or online is the way forward.  The classic example of this is Machine Mart.  Poorly QC'd over-priced junk, for the most part.  You can easily source decent  tools for less money online, or at a proper tool shop.