Blundstone: The Boot Built to Outlast Trends

If you ask people why they wear Blundstones you usually don't get a direct answer. The farmer will say it's because of the sole. The bartender will say it's because they come off quickly at the end of the shift. The stylist in London will say that they look right with all sorts of clothes. All of these responses are accurate, and that is exactly the point. It is rare for boots to be both genuinely useful and genuinely stylish at the same time, and Blundstone has been successfully achieving that feat for over 150 years.

A Boot Born of Necessity

The story takes place in 1870 in a boot warehouse located on Liverpool Street in Hobart, Tasmania. John Blundstone, who was a coachbuilder by occupation, had been importing English footwear into the colony for many years before deciding that it was possible for him to do so himself. In Tasmania in the 1870s it was not a tolerant environment for wearing boots. The cobbled streets, the rough farmland, the factory floors and the dance halls all required something more sturdy than what fashion alone could provide.

At the beginning there was no overarching design philosophy, merely a simple aim: to create a boot that could last through the kind of life its user actually led. It is precisely this idea—that rather than any one style or feature—that the company has refined over a period of one hundred and fifty years.

Tested the Hard Way

A boot's good name isn't won in a showroom, rather Blundstone's reputation was built nearer to the opposite end. The company was the first to produce safety boots with steel toes and soles resistant to chemicals for use in factories and on farms, and then truly established its credentials in 1914 when it became one of only twenty Australian manufacturers entrusted with supplying the army. When the Second World War came around, the number of pairs of boots that were contracted had reached half a million for Australian soldiers (ripper!)

It wasn't all plain sailing though. The Great Depression came so close to bringing the company to an end that in 1932 it was taken over by the Cuthbertson family, who were specialists in boot and leather goods based in Hobart and who decided to retain the Blundstone name because they saw sufficient value in it to prevent the company from disappearing. The family still own the brand now, which is why Blundstone is one of a very small number of footwear companies to have remained both so old and independent.

The Boot That Needed No Reinventing

All the knowledge the brand had acquired regarding durability reached its peak in 1969 with the introduction of the boot which is now the one most people imagine when they hear the name: the Original #500. This boot's shape was inspired by the Chelsea boot, a design which was patented in London as early as 1851, and was based on a real innovation at that time, rubberised elastic, enabling the boot to be put on and taken off without the need for a single lace or buckle. It is legend that the original Chelsea boot was a favourite of Queen Victoria's and that she chose it because it sat discreetly underneath a riding skirt.

Blundstone's own version was even less refined. It featured single-piece leather, a durable polymer sole, and elastic gussets designed to actually stand up to working rather than merely appear capable. The design has never had to change since it was first introduced. Now that more than 25 million pairs have been sold, it is still the boot against which the entire brand is judged.

A Long Way From Tasmania

Useful and truly good design has a habit of reaching distant places, and Blundstone has therefore turned up in some unexpected locations. The boots have been taken to Everest, placed on army parade grounds, used on factory floors and police beats, and have also been worn by chefs, tap dancers and touring musicians. Those people weren't interested in style. They wanted a boot that would keep them safe, and as a result of this reputation the brand has become a real fashion item as well — just as at home on a city street as it is on a sheep station.

Even though it has achieved all that it has, Blundstone has remained precisely where it began: it is still based in Hobart, still run by members of the family, and still makes boots on the basis of the same determined idea that John Blundstone had in 1870.

Buying a Pair That Will Actually Last

Many elastic-sided boots copy the appearance but fewer manage to copy the quality. It's worth looking for the following features before making a purchase: full-grain leather that has a substantial feel rather than using a thin and flat kind of hide; elastic gussets that spring back properly rather than those that strain to maintain their shape; a sole with real traction and some flexibility, not one that has just a pattern pressed into hard rubber; and simple stitching and construction since a pair of boots made so honestly doesn't require much elaboration.

At Merchant Menswear, we're proud to stock a brand with this much genuine history behind it. If you're after a boot built on 150 years of hard-earned reliability rather than a passing trend, take a look at our full Blundstone collection and find your next pair.