Meet the agricultural tyre boss who is making wellies out of tractor tread

The owner of the 90-year-old business in Baildon, near Bradford, was retiring and Card thought it sounded like a good opportunity.

“We had a great life in Hong Kong for 10 years but it’s a concrete jungle. I’m from Yorkshire and it got to the point where we wanted to come back here,” says the 42-year-old married father-of-three.

“I’d had a little bit of exposure in buying and selling tyres, nothing massive, but it was enough for me to put tyres into the search box and this place came up. I loved the name,” he adds.

Card’s plan was to stay in Hong Kong for a few more years and learn a bit more about the agricultural tyre industry before moving back to Yorkshire.

He appointed someone to run the £500,00 turnover company and its four staff. However, on the day of the sale in February 2016, the managing director had a stroke and was unable to take up the role.

"I had to tell my wife, who was pregnant with our third child, that we had to leave Hong Kong and move to Bradford,” he says.

Card likens his first day at The British Rubber Company to the comedy character David Brent in the BBC sitcome The Office. “Can you imagine what the staff were thinking?” he says. “Seeing this guy from Hong Kong walking in who doesn’t have a clue about tyres?”

He describes the next few months as ‘character building’. “Our first six months were really tough,” he admits.

Goodyear, which had been a huge part of the business in the past, pulled out of the agricultural tyre market and the Brexit vote in the summer of that year was a ‘disaster’ for the company, he says.

"We import truck tyres from Romania but it wasn’t so much that,” he says. “It was more of a disaster from a confidence point of view with the farmers who were worried about what was going to happen with the single farm payments.”

After Goodyear left the market, Card realised he needed another unique selling point to set the business apart.

He started supplying vintage tyres, which he says was popular.

"There are four or five times more vintage tractors than there are cars so it’s a huge business,” he says. “But it was still very niche.

"I was constantly wracking my brain, thinking what else I could be doing.

"The industry is shrinking because tyres are lasting longer and they’re not a priority for farmers at the moment."

Then, in January 2020 he was having a few drinks with a friend at his local cricket club when he had a lightbulb moment.

"I suddenly thought ‘wellies’,” he says. “And I came up with the idea of using tractor tread for the soles.”

The wellies, which have been designed by Card himself, are aimed at the farming community. They come in both khaki and black and have a self-cleaning lip on the sole and a four millimetre neoprene lining. The soles are made using Trelleborg ProgressiveTraction tread.

"I approached Trelleborg because they had the most distinctive looking tyre tread on the side walls of the tyres,” Card says.

Initially he had hoped to find a UK manufacturer but it proved to be impossible. “There isn’t one welly manufacturer in the whole of the UK any more,” he says.

It took a long time but eventually he found a manufacturing partner in China, which also had experience of working with Hunter wellies.

The wellies, which were launched this month, retail at about £120. Initially, they will be sold through Trelleborg.

"Without question, they are the comfiest wellies on the market,” Card says. “I’ve been wearing mine for six months and I’m really confident about the quality.”

The mens wellies are currently available in seven sizes. The next step will be to produce women’s and children’s wellies.

"The time and effort that has gone into producing these wellies is unbelievable,” he says. “I can make quick decisions but there are lots of processes to go through when working with such a big company. But we got there in the end.”

He adds: “Tyres are always going to be the main part of the business but it’s good to diversify.”

The company, which now has a £2.5m turnover and seven staff. At the end of last year it became the exclusive UK distributor for Tianli tyres, although it almost didn’t happen.

"Container prices from China went from 2,000 US dollars for a 40ft container to 22,000 dollars, Card says.

“It almost killed the deal. I knew what I was buying was overpriced because of the shipping and the pound. But I knew that if I wasn’t going to take it then someone else would.”

Card believes he ultimately made the right decision as container prices have since come down again, meaning future imports will be much cheaper.

"I was pretty bullish after Brexit and then Covid happened,” he says. “Then we went into a cost of living crisis but now I’m looking at 2023 and feeling quite optimistic. I’ve got the agricultural tyres, the vintage tyres and the wellies.

"I don’t think it’s going to be easy but at least I’ve got a few things that sets us apart from other businesses, which is crucial.”

Looking ahead, Card is also looking at moving into personalised silage bale wraps. “Normally when you drive past fields you see bale wraps and they’re usually plain black or green,” he says. “I just think it’s the best advertising opportunity on the planet.”

Meanwhile, Card says he has no regrets about relocating back to Yorkshire. “My kids can run around and be active,” he says. "I go shooting, fly fishing and walk the dogs. We have everything we ultimately wanted. It’s not been a bed of roses but in the end it’s worked out well.”