Hunter, a British footwear manufacturer, has announced a new sustainability and accountability strategy, the Hunter Protect that outlines how the company will protect and assist the environment and people in its community, from utilizing innovative low-impact materials to helping its communities.

Since 2011, the Wellington boot company has been working on responsible projects, and with the appointment of Paolo Porta as its new CEO in March 2021, it has been working on creating a clear and simple manifesto to assure development and responsibility via openness, commitments, and action.

Hunter CEO, Paolo Porta, said that their history is rooted in protection. They've been protecting their neighborhood from the elements for almost 160 years. They'll build on this legacy in two ways: by safeguarding the rights of everyone in their supply chain, and by collaborating with the charity to safeguard the things they care about most: our people and our planet.”

According to the brand, the Hunter manifesto will play an essential role in both the day-to-day operations of the firm and its long-term goals and includes seven promises to hold itself responsible and measure success throughout the whole organization.

According to Hunter, their manifesto is defined by three pillars, protecting forests, resources, and communities, and at the core of this is the brand's relationship with trees, since the natural rubber used to make its protective waterproof footwear is sourced from the sap of rubber trees.

Hunter has committed to sourcing 100% natural rubber from FSC-certified well-managed forests by 2025, and its 2022 collection will include 125 goods manufactured with natural rubber from FSC-certified well-managed forests, making it the company's most sustainable range to date. This will account for 14% of the company's overall footwear portfolio.

Other initiatives include the Hunter ReBoot initiative, which aims to provide a straightforward end-of-life solution for boots in the United Kingdom and the United States. Customers are not charged for the service, and all returned boots are recycled by First Mile in the UK and West Coast Rubber Recycling in the United States. The natural rubber is grinded down and repurposed into playground surfaces, equestrian arenas, roads, kickboxing bags, and floor fillers.

Hunter has partnered with Zappos For Good in the UK to provide customers with a free Collect+ shipping label to send their end-of-life boots directly to the recycling facility, while Hunter has partnered with Zappos For Good in the US to provide customers with a free UPS shipping label to ship end-of-life boots directly to the recycling facility. Customers in Japan will also be able to recycle their boots by the end of 2021.

Hunter has introduced a ‘Protect Our Forests' collection in partnership with the Forest Stewardship Council to promote their new sustainability path, which includes the Original Forest Tall boot and the Original Forest Short boot. Natural, vegan rubber was used to make each wellington boot, which was sourced from FSC-certified managed forests.

For the first month of sales, the ‘Protect Our Forests' boots on Hunter's e-commerce will donate 5% of profits to World Land Trust, Hunter's global charity partner, to fund an annual salary for a ‘Keeper Of The Wild' forest ranger, a local ranger who works on the frontlines of conservation, essential for everyday protection, ongoing site, and species monitoring, and long-term success of the programs.