Company Overview

The organisation consists of a highly-integrated group of companies owned
and operated by a family whose history can be traced back to the 1840s. This family purchased Blundstone Pty Ltd in 1932, amalgamating their footwear manufacturing operations under the Blundstone name.

Despite having grown into one of the world’s most recognisable boot brands, the company remains Tasmanian and retains its family values.

In 2000, Blundstone acquired the iconic John Bull brand, which was founded in New Zealand in 1934.

We are committed to making the highest quality boots for everyday work and comfort. We manufacture our leather footwear overseas with current sourcing from Vietnam, Thailand, India, China and Mexico. Our gumboots are manufactured at our headquarters in Hobart.

We employ our own personnel at the overseas facilities to ensure the standard of manufacturing meets our stringent quality standards. Blundstone is a Quality Endorsed Company to ISO9001.

Blundstone is committed to policies which are framed with reference to sustainable development – to help shape the agricultural, industrial and commercial profile of our world.

We maximise our use of recycled and recyclable materials in our manufacturing. Our primary cardboard box is also a single material 100% recyclable package, from renewable resources. We minimise the use of raw material, chemicals and fossil fuels.

In 2011, we became signatories to the Australian Packaging Covenant and have implemented an Action Plan against which we present an Annual Report.

Since 1870, Blundstone has made the toughest, no-nonsense footwear for work and play.

Decades of innovative design and production mean Blundstone now oversees a global supply chain bringing together the best ideas, components and designs to complement a wide range of products - from the iconic elastic-sided boots loved worldwide, to gumboots, lace-up safety footwear for men and women, heavy industrial footwear and casual boots. Our products are developed by a team based in Hobart who use the best resources available from all over the world to develop footwear that keeps pushing the boundaries.

Our ongoing research and development activity sees constant improvement in comfort, protection, performance and aesthetics to match the great fit and value. The Blundstone and John Bull boots we produce today are just as tough as they’ve always been, but are now a lot more comfortable too.

The passion of our people has helped determine how our products and our company have evolved.

Our people are dedicated, highly skilled, innovative and focused on our customers. We seek and attract people who understand that the power of the team will get the best results for the people who decide to wear our products.

In our supplier operations overseas, we are committed to ensuring that the people making our product are employed ethically and are free from exploitation. At a local level, this means that employment standards within our suppliers exceed the minimum government-prescribed standards in the country of operation.

Blundstone owns two boot brands - Blundstone (sold globally) and John Bull (sold mainly in New Zealand).

At Blundstone, we understand that our most valuable assets are our brands. We are dedicated to strengthening the positioning of our brands through our
marketing and sales activities and through how we relate to the community.

Blundstone monitors our brand strength with extensive market research conducted regularly across our domestic markets.

Market research reports in 2011 indicated that Blundstone is Australia’s best-known, most-loved and most-worn boot brand and John Bull is the number one work boot brand in New Zealand.

Our headquarters are based in Moonah, Tasmania, housing our administration, sales, marketing, communications, quality management, customer service and
logistics sections. It's also home to our research and design centre and gumboot factory, with the capacity to manufacture 400,000 pairs of gumboots a year.

Blundstone also maintains modern facilities in Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.

Built on values that have stood the test of time.

The Blundstone Group operates according to a set of values that ensures legal, ethical and responsible policies, practices and processes are always adopted and put into practice throughout the company.

OUR STATED VALUES ARE:

• FAMILY - Our
  people are the driving force of our business. We care for, respect and
  value the diverse group who are a part of our family;
• CUSTOMER - Our mission is to listen to, understand and deliver on the needs, wants and expectations of our consumers and our customers;
• COMMUNITY - We are proud to be an active, positive and contributing member of our communities, locally and around the globe, today and for future generations;
• DESIGN - We are committed to designing innovative, quality, honest products, services and experiences that are fit for purpose;
• INTEGRITY - We always seek to do the right thing: to behave ethically; to act with integrity; and to minimise our impact on the environment.
  
  The Blundstone Group fully supports and complies with the industry code of practice designed to prevent exploitation of home-based labor.
  
  The Group also ensures that neither we nor our suppliers exploit adult or child labor.
  
  

Blundstone's history is closely linked with the social and industrial development of our island state from colonial times. We are conscious of our heritage and our responsibility to our environment and community.

Tasmania is internationally renowned for the high quality of its natural
environment, including one of the last-remaining temperate wilderness
areas of significant size, and standards of air and water quality which are global benchmarks. These assets are of intrinsic value to us, and underpin our future quality of life.

Our company is committed to the policies of sustainable development which are shaping the agricultural, industrial and commercial profile of our
state. Blundstone pursues development policies which are evaluated with
reference to environmental considerations. We maximize our use of recycled and recyclable materials in our manufacture and packaging. We
minimize the use of raw material, chemicals and fossil fuels.

We conform, and where possible exceed, all federal, state and local
government regulations and encourage our suppliers to do likewise.

Blundstone Australia Pty. Ltd is committed to ensuring that the people making our product are employed ethically and are free from exploitation. At a local level, this means that employment standards within our partners meet or exceed the minimum government-prescribed standards in the country of operation.

Blundstone has valued partners around the world. For partners we have direct
relationships with, we classify them as tier-one footwear partners or tier-one partners. For partners that supply our tier-one partners, and where we do not have a direct relationship, we classify as tier-two.

Blundstone takes a proactive approach to satisfying itself that the standard is maintained. This is achieved through a variety of means:

• third-party on-site auditing of a tier-one or tier-two partner if they are assessed as posing an increased risk of potentially not meeting our employment standards.
• Blundstone supports employees’ rights to be free to collectivize should they wish to, and that the collective be able to represent the employees in negotiations regarding employment conditions.
• Blundstone has access to independent third-party standards accreditations audit reports that document partner compliance and continuous improvement with regards to outcomes of their employees.
• Blundstone has Quality Inspectors present on-site in all tier-one footwear partner sites that ensures that work undertaken on our behalf is completed in line with our ESB program.
• with all partners, Blundstone has the understanding that, in all cases, people are employed in a market that values their skills, respecting employees' choice of employment, and never forcefully or wilfully stopping them from seeking other opportunities.