Boots made for working
Skellerup has been providing New Zealanders with high quality, genuine hand-finished footwear for more than 70 years, with George Skjellerup's Rubber Footwear Company producing its first pair of tennis shoes just days before the start of the Second World War.
For a while production concentrated on making footwear for the armed forces and civilian gas masks, but within a few years the company had perfected its waterproofing techniques and was facing a growing demand for its boots, shoes and slippers.
New Zealand's first rubber gumboot, the original 'Marathon', was produced by Skellerup on September 9, 1943. This was soon followed by the Skellerup 'Red Band' – the gumboot of choice for New Zealand farmers for more than 50 years.
Sir Edmund Hillary and his team were all kitted out with Skellerup products, including specially designed boots called Mukluks, for the New Zealand trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1956-1958.
Skellerup's latest gumboot, the Quatro®, was launched in 2009 in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. This high performance waterproof boot has been developed to provide superior comfort, warmth, support and performance.
"Skellerup is a trusted brand and Skellerup gumboots are trusted friends to their owners. They can be relied on to do their job from when they are put on in the morning to when the owner slips out of them at the end of a hard day's work," Footwear Group General Manager Paul Randall says.
While many of the boot-making methods have not changed much over the last 70 years, Skellerup's boots have undergone constant refinement and development, including increased comfort and support, to meet the needs of an ever diversifying working environment and footwear market.
Whether it is brand conscious customers looking for innovative products with lightweight waterproofing, or high performance protective footwear such as state-of-the-art fire fighter's boots, Skellerup products meet the highest international specifications.
World-class chemists head Skellerup's Rubber Technology programme producing innovative products and formulations that can be individually tailored toward specific work and leisure environments.
"All our gumboots are hand-built in successive layers, incorporating all the necessary components along the way. The finished articles then undergo a stringent quality control process with each boot being individually inspected prior to release into the market," says Randall.
The acquisition of its Chinese manufacturing facility in Jiangsu in 2004 has put Skellerup in an excellent position to build international volume yet still own the brands on which it built its reputation.
"Our aim is for Skellerup to be an international gumboot brand synonymous for quality and performance, just like it is in New Zealand," Randall says.
"What the Skellerup name means is a promise. It is a promise of quality and reliability and that is how we'd like it to be recognised internationally." Ends
A photograph of Sir Edmund Hillary and his Mukluks taken in 2008 is available on request.
For further information, please contact: Deborah Allan, Skellerup Marketing Executive 03 381 5810
