Oliver Footwear, now a fourth generation Australian owned family company, owes its origins to gold mining in the Victorian provincial city of Ballarat.

Our founder James Oliver, a bootmaker by trade, came to the goldfields of Ballarat, then amongst the richest alluvial and underground mining fields in the world, in the mid 1800’s.

His quest for the elusive nuggets was unsuccessful, so he returned to the trade of bootmaking which he had learned in the U.K.

Established as the business of Oliver & Stevens, the new venture commenced producing boots for miners and farmers in 1887.

Throughout our long history, Oliver Footwear has remained in the control of the Oliver family, with Andrew Oliver, a fourth generation descendant of our founder, James Oliver, currently Chairman of the company.

The same entrepreneurial streak which marked the establishment of Oliver Footwear in 1887 continues today.

Oliver Footwear retains its committed to innovation in product research and development to address the needs and demands of tough workplace safety environments is a central part of our company philosophy.

Innovation in manufacturing technology and business systems is reflected in millions of dollars in new capital investments made by the company in recent years.

Oliver Footwear today is Australia’s largest producer of industrial and safety footwear and a company committed to operating at world’s best practices in all dimensions.