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Timberland is ready for its Ugg moment. The American work boot brand took to Paris men’s week this season to fulfil its fashion ambitions.
It began with Pharrell Williams’s Western-themed Louis Vuitton runway on Tuesday, where models sported monogrammed yellow Timberland boots, or even carried them in windowed monogram trunks that showed off the goods inside. On Wednesday, they were spotted at London-based cult designer Wales Bonner’s show, styled with tailoring, denim and varsity jackets. On Saturday, Tokyo-based outdoors label White Mountaineering presented souped-up Timberland hiking boots alongside its outerwear.
To accompany the appearances, Timberland also installed larger-than-life billboards, fly posters, retail windows and nighttime projections of slogan “Je T’imbs”, a subversion of the French phrase je t’aime (I love you). Timberland took over Paris café Recto Verso for two days, with co-branded cups and free biscuits. The brand also sponsored a Pdpool party, dressing performers Stéphane Ashpool, A$AP Nast, Kim Turnball and Ciesay in yellow “Timbs” for the occasion.
The brand was keen to work with a range of designers, each with unique aesthetics and audiences. Vice president and CMO Maisie Willoughby says planning for the Je T’imbs activation and the collaborations has been underway for months, with an intense crunch time from four weeks before the event. The aim? To reinvigorate the label, and show new generations how to incorporate it across different lifestyles.
“The Timberland yellow boots have always been a fashion icon. These [activations] are about creating energy in the streets, tapping into hyper-local culture and celebrating that, while also being at the centre of the fashion conversation,” says Willoughby, who joined in 2023 from Alexander Wang, where she led its rebranding effort (post-scandal). “The objective was to create as much noise as possible and what better place to do that than Paris Fashion Week.”
Timberlands have been bubbling up in recent years, worn frequently by Rihanna and spotted on stars including Emily Ratajkowski, who stepped out in 2022 in a pair of Timberland x Veneda Carter heeled boots. Soon after, magazines like Vogue, Esquire and Grazia declared Timberlands were back. Paris Fashion Week felt like the perfect place to build on this buzz, Willoughby says.
Timberland was launched in 1973, as a quintessential boot for blue collar workers. But the brand shot to fame in the mid-90s, when it hit the New York hip-hop scene, sported by artists including Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G and Wu-Tang’s Raekwon. The brand quickly hit the mainstream, and suddenly Timberlands were en vogue across major cities around the globe. The pink and denim style, in particular, went viral in certain markets, “friends keep asking me when the pink with denim are coming back”, laughs Willoughby who grew up in the Cotswolds, UK, “I had a pair”.
Like other mass market shoes such as Uggs and Birkenstocks, Timberlands fell out of mainstream favour in the 2010s as the sneaker market picked up. Timberland owner VF Corp — which also operates brands including Vans, The North Face and Supreme — saw revenues slide in fiscal 2023, down 2 per cent on the previous year, with Timberland revenues down 5 per cent on 2022.
Aligning with fashion could be a smart playbook: Ugg, which has collaborated with legions of designers like Telfar and Chopova Lowena in recent years, as part of its comeback strategy, hit record revenues last year. Crocs, through collaborations with brands like Balenciaga and Christopher Kane in recent years, is expecting record revenues for fiscal 2023, the company announced this month. While Birkenstock, which has joined forces with Proenza Schouler, Manolo Blahnik, Dior and Fear of God over recent years, was acquired by LVMH-backed investment firm L Catterton in 2021, before listing on the New York Stock Exchange in October last year with a valuation of $8.6 billion.
Timberland is hoping luxury can help return the brand to its former fashion glory. The Vuitton collaboration in particular, which British Vogue head of content Chioma Nnadi described as “hypebeast catnip” on Vogue’s ‘The Run-Through’ podcast, combines the iconic, high-end LV monogram with the pop-culture famous yellow boot, reminiscent of juggernaut menswear collaborations such as Louis Vuitton x Supreme in 2017. The release date and price are yet to be announced.
“Over the years, we’ve seen huge success when streetwear and sneaker culture converges with high fashion brands, so it was only a matter of time until shoe brands got in on the game,” says Andrew Haines, director of merchandising at resale platform StockX. “Many years ago nobody would have expected Crocs and Balenciaga, or Birkenstock and Dior to partner up and co-create a collection, but both have proven how successful these partnerships can be. Collabs like these offer both brands exposure to new audiences, fuel excitement around the brand, and when combined with masterful storytelling, place them at the centre of cultural conversations.”
Like the sneaker market, where growth is now slowing after years of collabs, it’s possible to reach peak hype, as more mass footwear labels ink luxury partnerships. But the difference between these footwear collaborations in terms of silhouette means each appeals to a different consumer. StockX expects the Timberland collaborations, notably Louis Vuitton and Wales Bonner, to be hot items.
Showing younger generations how to style Timbs
Timberland isn’t new to fashion collaborations. The brand has collaborated with Billionaire Boy Club’s Bee-Line label for several years. In 2023 it also partnered with Jimmy Choo on a capsule of sparkly, high heel and graffiti-print boots. Last year, the brand collaborated with stylist and designer Veneda Carter, with a second collection to come this year.
When watching user generated content about Timberland online, Willoughby and her team noticed that a lot of conversation focused around how to tie and style the shoes; they felt the fashion show was the perfect way to show them how. “The yellow boot is a timeless classic. I think if the younger generation knows how to style it, then it’s going to become a staple, like when we were growing up in that time period,” she says. “It’s really about harnessing those stories, projecting them into something that feels super fresh. I’m absolutely trying to get back to that place and I think we’re getting there.”
It was really important for Timberland to partner with a variety of collaborators who approach styling and footwear in a different way, she continues, to show the versatility of the shoe. And the designers didn’t take much convincing. “The original Timberland yellow boot holds such relevance and nostalgia globally for so many people. So it’s natural that a variety of designers grew up with and have an affinity to the brand, regardless of their individual style or taste.” The Paris activation is well timed, as workwear and functional fashion were front of mind this season, from Williams’s Vuitton to Zegna’s rolled-up sleeves.
The Je T’imbs activation will be measured on brand heat around the yellow boot and the other styles, like the Three Eye Lug, the Boat Shoe and the Euro Hiker, as there’s different icons to different audiences and different regions, says Willoughby. It’s early days, but already the response is encouraging, Timberland has been trending on Google all week. Plus Hypebeast’s Brand Rankings just came out, and Timberland has jumped from the mid-20s last month to number six. “These are clear barometers that the energy behind our collabs and other marketing efforts are hitting home with consumers and culture,” she says.
How will the brand build on this new momentum? Willoughby is tight-lipped on specifics. Timberland won’t be activating across the womenswear season but fans can look forward to another exciting collaboration in the coming months. “If you look at what we’re doing here, that’s the playbook moving forward,” Willoughby says, “we’re all about creating conversations.”
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