This year’s Splendour in the Grass may have looked like a complete washout, but not everyone was complaining as one essential item saw business in the area boom.
After a two year hiatus, the North Byron Parklands annual music festival’s comeback was off to a mucky start thanks to a winter downpour flooding the grounds.
Revellers were forced to ditch their colourful festival outfits for something a little more practical, as the usually green, sunny scene was overwhelmed with knee-deep puddles of mud.
As a result, requests for gumboots soared with stockists of the footwear seeing demand like never before.
Bunnings stores within a 50km radius of the Byron area ran out of the garden-staple item almost completely, according to stock levels on the hardware shop’s website with Kmart also following suit.
Ballina’s Big W also sold out completely across all sizes in both mens and women’s shoes.
Meanwhile BCF had no stock of their Outrak Men’s Subzero Gumboots in their Ballina, Tweed Heads, Burleigh and Nerang stores.
At Target, women are the winners with stock currently available at its Tweed Heads and Byron Bay stores.
TikTok user @callumcharlesworth was one festival-goer struggling to find the footwear, posting to the platform that he had been to five shops in the area but had no luck.
“Who else is struggling to find gumboots for Splendour!? This (is) the 5th shop we been too (sic)! Help,” the video captioned.
He wasn’t alone, with others using different methods to protect their feet.
“We didn’t find any, resorting to plastic bags around socks and shoes,” TikTok user @georgiadarby_ commented.
“Dude I went everywhere and nothing. I just got tradie boots from Kmart in the end,” said another user.
One commenter who claims to work at a Bunnings store located an hour away from Yelgun NSW, commented on the post that business at her store was booming.
“Loganholme Bunnings … we sold $2000 worth today,” TikTok user @emmaclare said on Friday.
Meanwhile another user who works at Kmart said 12 people asked for gumboots at her store within the span of 24 hours.
With gumboots selling like hot cakes, some Facebook Marketplace users took the opportunity to sell their unused shoes, which were probably collecting dust in the garage, on the platform.
In the last 24 hours, over 50 pairs of gumboots were listed on the platform in the Byron Bay area, with ponchos also making an appearance.
But in typical, rising cost-of-living fashion, some users humorously posted ads with an inflated price tag.
One Facebook Marketplace seller from the Gold Coast listed a pair of size 9 gumboots for $500.
Meanwhile another user from Cabarita Beach listed a pair for $700, titling the ad “Gumboots for Splendour”.
A Gumtree seller was prepared to take customer service to the next level, offering delivery to the festival for a price tag of $1000.
For those looking for a pair of gumboots, or “wellies” for non-Splendour related purposes, stock is expected to return shortly with the event wrapping up at the end of today.
In the meantime, there are a range of sizes, designs and colours available on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree, with prices averaging between $15 to $50.
Originally published as ‘Dude I went everywhere and nothing’: Gumboot sales skyrocket amid muddy Splendour in the Grass
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