London Fashion Week is not a big fixture in the shooting calendar, but shooting retailers may have been mildly interested to see the latest manifestation of Hunter boots. For decades the default brand of footwear for country pursuits enthusiasts, it has long since moved on to embrace the world of couture, although if you ferret around enough in the catalogue you can still find the odd boot or two that wouldn’t look absurd in five inches of mud.
The transition from countryside to catwalk has not been entirely trouble free however; the latest upset coming in the form of a whacking great bill for legal costs after Hunter’s owners tried to get away with paying one of its sales agents less money than he was entitled too. The agent, Charles Shearman, claimed that under EU regulations put in place to protect agents from losing out when companies decided to dispense with their services or change their contracts, he was owed £1.5 million in compensation.
Hunter had employed the fancy Dan and seriously pricey lawyers, Miscon de Reya, to fight its case. Hunter lost and has had to pay out undisclosed but likely to be seven figure sums in costs and compensation. And that won’t be the end of it, because now it is almost certain to face further costs as it’s seeks to draw up new terms with its other agents.