Timberland (company)

Timberland LLC is an American manufacturer and retailer of outdoor footwear and apparel owned by VF Corporation. The company also sells accessories including watches, eyewear, and leather goods. Timberland's corporate headquarters are located in Stratham, New Hampshire.

History

In 1918, Nathan Swartz, a Jewish-born shoemaker from Odesa, Ukraine, started his shoe making career.[3][4] Nearby, the Abington Shoe Company was founded in 1933 in South Boston. Swartz bought half-interest in the company in 1952, and he and his sons eventually acquired the remaining shares.[5] Through the 1960s the company specialized in making private-label boots and shoes for other brands. In 1969, Abington moved to Newmarket, New Hampshire,[6]

Cultural impact

Despite Timberland building its image around a rugged "New Englander" lifestyle and rural blue collar work, Timberland boots came to have significant value in urban inner cities and Black neighborhoods in the 1980s and 1990s.[9] The boots were taken up by rappers associated with hip hop, starting in the New York hip hop scene,[19] and they soon became an enduring staple of Black, streetwear, and hip hop fashions.[20][21] The New York Times reported on the fashion phenomenon in 1993, stating, "Seemingly overnight, Timberland and companies like Carhartt Inc. and North Face, which have made their reputations on manufacturing authentic outdoor and work apparel, have, in the parlance of the street, become ‘dope’ and ‘phat’."[22]

Timberland boots, referred to by consumers as "Timbs" or "Butters",[23] thus gained the nickname "the Air Jordans of boots"[24] and became "the required footwear of the inner-urban set".[25] Prominent artists who featured them in songs or music videos included Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Nas, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Busta Rhymes, DMX, Dipset, Rihanna, Drake, Kanye West, and Jay-Z.[26][22] The company name became the namesake of the producer Timbaland.

Controversy

In a 1993 The New York Times article about "outdoor" clothing brands' cross-over appeal to Black and Hispanic inner-city youth, Jeffrey Swartz downplayed the importance of the urban youth market in Timberland's success, saying that the company concentrated its advertising on its core customers, "honest working people", adding that the urban market was not "sustainable".[25] Though Swartz denied any plan to distance his company's name from young Black and Hispanic consumers to maintain its image, his comments led to a backlash among some Black artists who publicly dropped the brand. In an editorial in The Amsterdam News, Swartz denied the charges of racism[28] and met with Black cultural leaders to explain Timberland's position. The company began more publicly to embrace the urban youth market.[9][29] In the end, the controversy had little effect on sales.[30]

former name	Abington Shoe Company
type	Subsidiary
industry	Fashion
products	Apparel: Footwear
founder	Nathan Swartz
revenue	US$1.78 billion (2023)‡R1R‡
parent	VF Corporation
foundation	1952 in Abington, Massachusetts (Swartz buys half-interest) 1978 (as the Timberland Company)
location city	Stratham, New Hampshire
location country	U.S.
locations	c. 260 (2017)‡R2R‡

Timberland (company)

History

Products

Partnerships

Cultural impact

Controversy

Volunteerism, philanthropy, and sustainability

External links

References