Scottish heritage brand Hunter is the go-to for protecting soles from torrential weather in knee-high, rubber Wellington boots. Launched in Edinburgh as the North British Rubber Company in 1856, American founder Henry Lee Norris decided to experiment with rubber footwear and reinvented the 1817 “Welly” calfskin boot for Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington. Hunter Wellington boots surged in popularity during World War I, and were further popularized after World War II, when the signature green Wellington was created. Since then, Hunter Wellington boots have become a fashionable tour de force in British country life and society — worn by the likes of Kate Moss, the Royal Family, Oxford and Cambridge boat crews, and even cartoon character Paddington Bear. Hunter received a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty The Queen in 1986.