How Timberland's Became the 'Winter' Shoe of East Coast Hip-hop
Song of the Week: Isaiah Rashad - Headshots
Isaiah Rashad has one of the best albums I’ve heard in the past years. He’s one of my favorite artists, and if you’re not familiar with him, you are now…
If you hate this song, I don’t know what to tell you except Happy Friday, I guess.
Let’s get it!!
It’s getting cold outside again, so you know what that means…
It’s hoodie season.
But obviously it’s not just hoodie season.
This is when jackets come out of storage, Uggs start make their appearance, Pumpkin Spice is in everything, and Northerners break out…
AKA The Butters (or the Beef & Broccoli joints if that’s more your vibe)
It’s boot season, meaning you’re bound to see a lot of Timberland boots sooner than later.
We talked about workwear in our piece on Carhartt, so it was only right that we talk about the boots that were often worn with them.
Y’all know the deal…
It’s a Timberland kind of day.
Nathan Swartz, a young shoemaker, was just beginning his career in Europe.
He spent years working on his craft, and by 1933, Swartz bought a 50% stake in the Abington Shoe Company, based Newburyport, Massachusetts.
By 1955, he took full control of the company.
But, as for the Timberland boot itself…
While working with his son Sidney, Nathan stumbled upon a technique that allowed him to make a high-quality waterproof boot.
It was first introduced in 1973 as the company's new groundbreaking innovation, and true to its claim, blue-collar workers across America started wearing “The Timberland” as their preferred work boot.
Eventually, The Timberland boot got so popular that the Abington shoe company changed its name to Timberland by 1978.
From there, something unprecedented happened:
Yes. You read that correctly.
By the mid-70s you could buy Timberlands in Saks Fifth in New York, and other high-end stores.
In fact, Timberland gained the affection of tourists and their boots eventually became one of the biggest shoes in Milan, Italy.
Travelers from overseas saw Timberlands as an authentic part of American workwear, and upon returning from their visits to the U.S., they would sport them to show their ties to American culture.
Eventually Timberlands were sold on underground markets in Milan, and they became high fashion symbols in Italy.
Shortly after, the Timberland brand caught on to the hype and sales steadily increased in the U.S.
The 80s were right around the corner, and Hip-hop was beginning to take shape commercially.
The Winters up north can be incredibly harsh — so much so that dopeboys and street hustlers needed quality clothing that could help them stand long hours on the corner.
They already had their Carhartt Jackets, but needed something else for their feet.
Uptowns weren’t gonna cut it in this weather, so they opted for Timberland boots.
"Timberland is being adopted by a consumer that we didn't know existed relative to our target audience" - Jeffrey Swartz, EVP of Timberland, NYT
In the early 90s, the impact of Hip-hop culture on Timberland was pretty clear.
According to Mr. Porter sales rose by 50% between the years of 1992 & 1993. Despite that, execs said that the “urban” market attributed to less than 5% of their sales.
In short, they didn’t wanna be associated with Hip-hop. They believed their only target demo was blue-collar workers, and the like.
The idea that rappers wore wearing their boots wasn’t one they were particularly fond of — comments made by the CEO to that effect even sparked a boycott of the brand for a while.
Eventually, Hip-hop’s impact on the brand, its sales, and Timberland’s overall presence in culture became too big to deny.
Artists like Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep, Biggie, and Jay-Z were helping to make their shoes mainstream in 90s, and. consumers were beginning to fill their closets with Timberland boots.
The company’s revenue was growing as result too. In just a decade or so they made the jump from an 8-figure company to a 9-figure one.
Surely enough, by 2000, Timberland’s revenue crossed the $1b mark.
On the heels of that success, they started paying more attention to Black consumers, and as the years have gone by they’ve even created campaigns specifically highlighting their connection to Hip-hop culture.
**This isn’t an exhaustive list of their releases, just a few highlights
In Fall of 2017, Timberland announced The Legends Collection in partnership with Nas. On top of the animated visuals featuring stories from Nas’ career, the partnership extended to Foot Locker, who also hosted a live performance by Nas and exclusive drops every week.
Timberland also reached out the Virgil Abloh for an Off-White edition of the iconic boot.
The partnership included four different colorways — the most distinct of which was a dustier (off-white, ha) version of the OG design that still goes for a premium price on resell markets.
“The Hip Hop Royalty Boot project is Timberland’s way of giving Hip Hop its flowers and showing appreciation for what they have done for the brand.
I am really happy to partner with Timberland and give young creatives something I did not have as a kid, which is the empowerment of creativity.” - Chris Dixon, Timberland, Hypebeast.
In celebration of #Hiphop50 Timberland decided to release a special shoe complete with a new colorway, turntable and content dedicated to the culture.
The Royalty boot (seen below) was created as a remix to the iconic “Butters” that the company is known for and it became a highly coveted drop for sneakerheads and Hip-hop fans alike.
Timberland (like most brands) has fully embraced their place within Hip-hop. They’ve released collabs with rappers like A$ap Ferg and even do content chronicling their shoes with up & coming rappers like Lola Brooke (seen above).
With Black music being one America’s largest cultural exports, and a huge money generator, I suspect that Timberland will continue to double down on its affiliation with Hip-hop music.
For fans, that means more unique collabs, and for the sneakerheads, that means more product to flip?
Personally, that sounds like a win-win to me.
Peace.
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