Glastonbury wouldn’t be Glastonbury without the sight of an A-lister squelching through the festival mud in a pair of Hunter wellies.
But now the company behind a Glasto fashion accessory made almost obligatory by the likes of Kate Moss, Cara Delevingne and Alexa Chung has fallen victim to a drought-driven drying of demand in its biggest market, the United States.
Three years of below-average rainfall across much of the US has hit sales to such a degree that Hunter Boot, a royal warrant holder that was also a favourite of Princess Diana, has been forced to file for administration just days before the event with which it is most closely associated.
The company, the successor to the original North British Rubber Company founded in Edinburgh in 1856 by a New Jersey entrepreneur, leaves debts of £100 million and trade creditors in the UK owed £11.5 million. The sole surviving retail outlet at Bicester Village has shut and uncertainly surrounds the future of about 100 jobs.
In a notice from administrators AlixPartners, creditors were told that prolonged “unseasonal weather” in the US, a lengthy Covid shutdown of its factory in China and rocketing freight rates have all combined to make the business unviable. “There’s just not been enough rain in America,” said one source close to the company.
The classic welly, handcrafted from 28 individual parts, was first introduced in 1956. Hunter also sells men’s, women’s and children’s waterproof and weatherproof footwear, outerwear, bags and accessories.
Latest accounts for Hunter Boot show sales of £51.5 million in North America in 2021 compared with £40.6 million in Europe and group revenue of £107 million. It had been owned by Pall Mall Legacy, a fund backed by Goldman Sachs, private equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners and sportswear group Pentland.
However, despite the collapse the footwear label looks set to survive in a different guise once the production disruption caused by the administration has been resolved.
The Hunter Boot brand and intellectual property has already been sold to a US company Authentic — which also owns Ted Baker and Reebok and has a stake in David Beckham’s brandee portfolio. The Standard understands the sale price was almost £100 million, with £68 million of that covering the IP rights.
Authentic said it has agreed a long-term partnership with UK licensing and distribution management company the Batra Group, which will become the licensee of Hunter in the UK and continental Europe. In the US, design, wholesale and e-commerce will be handled by Marc Fisher Footwear.
Clare Kennedy, one of the administrators at AlixPartners, said: “We are delighted to have assisted in securing a new home for this storied British brand. We wish Authentic the very best for the future as they look to further elevate the Hunter brand’s global presence.”
