The Giving Welly Charity
There is no doubt at all that the world’s most popular boot is the Wellington boot. The story of how it came to existence is like a fairy tale, handed down for generations because of the impact it made on all the boot wearers all over the world. This dates back to when Napoleon at Waterloo and the first Duke of Wellington’s success on this famous battle ground created history when his cobbler designed the famous boot. It has undergone many modifications in style and color to match contemporary styles.
The Duke of Wellington’s success in the battle made him a war hero. The public adored him and loved the style of his designer boots. The war hero’s image was a major aspect in making the Wellington boots the most wanted all over the region. This boot took on the metamorphosis to suit the fashions of the era. The trousers and pants had frills on the breeches and leggings, so the low cut boot was to match the prevailing fashion. The Wellingtons now had a strong foothold in the boot market, the demand multiplied as World War I started with trench warfare and 1.2 million boots were needed from the Hunter Wellington Rubber Boot Company. Troops were readied to fight in squalid rainy and muddy conditions of European battle grounds.
The famous Hunter Wellington Rubber Boot Company was also known as the North British Rubber Company. They did extremely well with their business and introduced the Green Hunter and Royal Hunter Wellingtons in 1954. The introduction of new colors of boots was not something that was accepted quickly, even an order for forty pairs was considered to be a decent consignment.
The new name of Uniroyal came into existence in 1966 when the original company The North British Rubber Company decided to work under a different name. The demand for the boots was stable and the change in name did not seem to have made a dent in their sales. In 1986 the Uniroyal was bought over by the Gates Rubber Company. A whole lot of trading seemed to have taken place at this stage. The Tomkins PLC of London decided to buy the Gates Rubber Company Limited in 1996. It seemed to have been transacted again almost immediately to Interfloor, a large manufacturer of underlayment carpet. As recent as 2004 the original company, Hunter stepped in to repurchase the foot wear division from Interfloor. The business is run independently and is completely a freestanding company.
The North British Rubber and Uniroyal joined hands to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Hunter Wellington Boot Company. A charity was set up by Hunter, named Giving Welly charity, a campaign and program to assist in various charities. The funds would be raised from the sale of seven specially colored Wellington boots, each color designated to assist a certain charity. A new concept of helping others by buying the Wellington Boots came to be a novel idea in selling these boots. These customized Wellington Boots served a social cause which touched the buyers’ sensibilities.
