About Gumboots ~ Women Shoes Advisory

Functional footwear is now also fashionable, thanks to the soaring popularity of gumboots, more commonly known as wellies. Farmers and fashionistas alike sport these rubber wonders, and their popularity just keeps growing. Read on to discover the illustrative history of gumboots.

The word "gumboots" is a slang term for rubber Wellington boots and their copycats. According to Webster's New College Dictionary, Wellington boots "extend to the top of the knee in front but cut low in back." Gumboots are also called gumshoes, top boots and galoshes. Once worn primarily in the fields as mudproof footwear, today you can see gumboots everywhere from fields to mines to college campuses.

When the first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, asked his shoemaker to reconstruct his high tasseled Hessian boot for greater comfort and more versatility, he had no idea what he started. The result? A leather predecessor of today's rubber gumboots, or wellies.

In the 1850s, Henry Norris, an American who moved to Scotland to experiment with rubber footwear, formed a rubber company (today known as Hunter Rubber Company) which manufactured rubber Wellington boots for the first time. Today, gumboots are made from rubber or PVC (polyvinyl chloride).

Gumboots' primary use is as protective footwear. In inclement weather, many people wear gumboots to protect their feet from rain. In places where workers process chemicals or work in flooded areas, gumboots are a staple for protecting against chemicals and infected waters. Gumboots are also popular among gardeners, as gardens can get especially muddy after rain. Next time you see a firefighter, look at his gumboots. The many uses of gumboots show their versatility.

Gumboots come in several styles and colors. The most popular style is mid-calf, but they also come in knee-high and ankle styles. You can often tell where a person is from by the color of their boots. The British usually sport green gumboots, while Canadians prefer black gumboots with red or green soles. In the USA, you'll see many black gumboots with yellow soles.

For style mavens not keen on the traditional colors, gumboots also come in a variety of patterns, including plaids, florals and exotic prints.

Gumboots made their way into popular culture in the 1970s with "The Welly Boot Song" performed by Scottish comedian Bill Connolly.

In the world of lawn games, the "Wellie Wang" is a popular sport. Participants simply throw their gumboots across the lawn as far as they can.

In a popular African dance called the Gumboot Dance, a dancer adapts step dancing to accommodate a combination of rhythm, words, clapping and slapping his boots. Some speculate that the dance had its origins among chained mineworkers in South Africa. Not allowed to speak to each other, they created their own language that involved slapping their gumboots and shaking their chains.

Gumboot dance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumboot_dance
The gumboot dance (or Isicathulo) is an African dance that is performed by dancers wearing wellington boots. In South Africa these are more commonly called gumboots.
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