Hunter Boots: A lesson in cultural relevance

In June 2023, Hunter Boots filed for administration… just one day before Glastonbury. 

For years, Glasto coverage wasn’t complete without the obligatory snaps of pop stars and It girls schlepping through the mud in their Hunters. It was the kind of guaranteed timely moment that brands dream of. Hunter had the heritage (a royal warrant, no less) and a quality product built to last you a lifetime. 

It was synonymous with a wealthy, fashionable, city-ish corner of Britishness – Alexa Chung by way of Princess Diana. A welly to be lightly used, and styled with a smart parka or Barbour. You certainly wouldn’t catch a Yorkshire farmer dead in one. 

Hunter fit into a bigger, brighter picture of Britain in the early noughties. One where Wills married Kate in a nation-stopping event rivalled only by the London 2012 Olympics. Where Andy Murray lifted the Wimbledon trophy – the first British man since Fred Perry in the ‘30s – and Cheryl Cole hugged Union Jack cushions in L’Oréal ads. Life was good. 

These years were Hunter’s last hurrah. In many ways, they felt like closing a chapter – the season finale of the cosy, welly boot-wearing, keep-calm-and-carry-on vision of British culture. The kind of Britishness certain Americans covet – fitting, then, that the brand is being bought out by an American company. 

Nearly 15 years later, Britain is post-Brexit. A generation that were children during the cosy years now have a complicated relationship with British identity. They are hardened by the past decade of global events. This glossy era in our history is notably absent from the noughties fashion revival.  

Hunter’s downfall can be traced to a changing climate, competitor landscape, and shoppers with smaller budgets. Its built-to-last product, sadly, is not the vibe in a trend-driven, fast fashion economy fuelled by weekly “hauls”. But it was also entwined with a culture that for a young crop of consumers feels irrelevant, or worse – cringe. 

Perhaps the sale of Hunter to an American company can help reimagine the brand through a lens of misty-eyed Anglophilia, and abandon the link to ‘true’ Britishness once and for all. One thing’s for sure: the boot no longer fits.