Until fairly recently, if you wore vellies, you were either a farmer or David Kramer. Some dictionaries still describe the velskoen as “a home-made shoe; a farmer’s shoe (with a low heel)”. It was a workhorse, not much more.
Side story: People on farms are resourceful. Gustav Nortjé*, who farms in the Baviaanskloof, told me in the old days, their rugby players wore boots made from baboon hide. It might sound absurd today, but for those pragmatic farmers, it made perfect sense. The players needed durable boots and baboons were a pest. Two birds, one stone.
But back to velskoens. They’re trendy now. Fashionable, even. Something you could previously only buy at a co-op is now.