Rossi Boots shuts up shop, ending 110-year of manufacturing tradition in South Australia

Rossi Boots will no longer be made in Adelaide, ending a 110-year manufacturing tradition and costing 35 jobs.

Rossie Boots Myron Mann (checked shirt) and employees in happier times. Picture: Tricia Watkinson.

Rossi Boots will no longer be made in Adelaide, ending a 110-year manufacturing tradition in South Australia and putting 35 people out of work.

The Rossi Boots Kilburn factory was closed with immediate effect on Wednesday, November 18, after bootmaker Adaptive Industries was placed in the hands of liquidators.

CFMMEU SA Assistant Secretary Dave Kirner said some of the retrenched employees had been part of Rossi Boots family or more than 40 years.

“The union will be looking for work for our retrenched members and encourage employers to contact the CFMMEU SA if they have vacancies,” he said.

“It’s a sad day for members and the manufacturing industry, people were pretty shocked.”

Mr Kirner said the employees had been on JobKeeper for six months.

Retrenched staff are entitled to three weeks redundancy entitlements for each year of service, capped at 60 weeks.

In April the Rossi Boots brand, started by the Rossiter family in 1910, was sold to Melbourne-based outfit Propel Group, which ran the well-known Driza-Bone (outerwear) and RB Sellars (rural workwear) brands.

The Rossi Boots Kilburn factory was closed with immediate effect on Wednesday.

The manufacturing plant and former Rossi Boots were transferred to Adaptive Industries which was contracted to make the last Australian made Rossi Boots.

Adaptive Industries chief executive Myron Mann said the Rossi manufacturing supply chain was “completely disrupted” by COVID-19.

“We ran out of money and I think the shareholders just couldn’t keep trying to throw money into it,” he said. “We tried to hang on as long as we could.

“It’s a shame, I’m hoping someone is going to pick it up and buy it, but that’s up to the liquidator.

“I just feel bad for the people, we have so many long serving employees who are going to have to re-skill and retrain because they have been doing this for a long time.”

Arthur Rossiter started the company Rossiter’s Pty. Ltd in 1910, trading from a factory in Unley. It traded from Hilton headquarters for more than 40 years before moving to Kilburn.

KPMG is handling the liquidation.

In October mining tycoon Andrew Forrest bought iconic Adelaide bootmaker RM Williams.

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