In the ninety years it has been around, R.M. Williams boots has become one of the world’s most famous and loved shoe names. Our famous one-piece leather boots were first made for men and women who lived in the harsh, unforgiving Australian bush. Since then, millions of people, including some of the world’s most famous, have worn them.
Establishment Of RM Williams Boots
Dollar Mick, a passing horseman in the Flinders Ranges, taught RM how to work with leather, so RM decided to try making things out of leather. RM’s first big break comes when he sells saddles to the owner of a group of cattle farms. This allowed him to open his business in his dad’s shed at 5 Percy Street in the Adelaide suburb of Prospect in 1934. The R.M. Williams Outback Heritage Museum is now located here and is still one of our stores.
The R.M. Williams company is multiplying and is known for making high-quality goods in South Australia and beyond. The business makes a lot of different leather goods, but its riding boots are its biggest hit. The thing that makes RM’s boots stand out from others is that he is very good at working with leather. The boots’ top is made from a single piece of leather, which makes them last longer and gives them a classic, clean look. This way of making things is still used in many R.M. Williams styles today.
RM’s luck changes when he buys a small mine and hits gold. This removes any financial worries he had about the long-term viability of his leatherwork business.
The Production of Goods
Because of its success, the company keeps adding hats and clothes based on the desert and the bushmen who live and work there. But boots are still the company’s main product. During this time, RM gets married again and leaves city life for good. He sells the old Governor’s house he was living in and moves to a run-down property in Queensland that he calls Rockybar. RM is very proud of Rockybar, and over the next fifty years, he has fixed it up so that it can be both a running business and a loved family home.
In the 1960s, the company sold many clothes and boots, such as new slim-fit Stockman’s Narrow Cut pants. The effect of clothes on people in cities helps businesses grow. One of the most-wanted products in Australia was the company’s catalog, which came out every other year. The CHI Direct Mail Advertising Association named the 1968 brochure the best in the world.
Expansion of RM Williams
The production workshop moved from Percy Street to where it is now, in Salisbury, a town in northern Adelaide. In 1978, the first R.M. Williams store outside Adelaide opened in Toowoomba. Later, more shops opened in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth. RM is slowly pulling away from the business. However, they are still an excellent resource for learning everything from working with leather to keeping the brand’s signature toughness and focus on individualism.
RM sold the company in 1988, and the first store opened in London in 1989.
R.M. Williams Ltd is run by his longtime friend Ken Cowley, who took over the business in 1993 and was in charge for twenty years. In the same year, Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, received a pair of R.M. Williams boots as a gift. This shows how popular the name and boots are around the world.
The company is still working toward RM’s goal of making a global brand that lives up to its iconic position. The company is putting much effort into best-practice e-commerce to help it sell more shoes and leather crafts worldwide, where demand keeps growing. Tattarang bought all of R.M.Williams from L. Catterton in 2020, the first time since 2014 that an Australian company owned the name. Andy and Nicola Forrest own Tattarang, one of Australia’s most significant private business firms. With their funding, the Forrest family will ensure that R.M. Williams’s Australian craftsmanship is loved and worn worldwide. Tattarang and R.M. Williams are both deeply connected to the Australian bush and the people who work it. Family, courage, determination, and having a solid character are essential to both businesses
