Timberland

Fashion Design   Apparel Definition

From Apprentice Stitcher to the Abington Shoe Company

Timberland's history is a family shoemaking history before it is a brand history. Nathan Swartz began in 1918 in Boston as an apprentice stitcher, bought half an interest in The Abington Shoe Company in 1952 — a company mainly doing contract work for other manufacturers — and bought the remaining interest in 1955, bringing his sons into the company. For decades, then, the business made shoes for others without a consumer name of its own. That background matters because the innovation that created the brand came from the manufacturing side: in the 1960s the Swartz family introduced the then innovative injection-molding technology into the footwear industry, which enabled the production of virtually waterproof boots by connecting the soles to the leather uppers without stitching. In 1973 the brand name Timberland was introduced for those waterproof leather boots, and because the boot proved very popular, the company name was officially changed to The Timberland Company.

Boots That Became a Hip Hop Staple

Although the boots are designed for hiking and mountain climbing, they are popular as a primary element of hip hop fashion, originating from their popularity with African-American and Latino youths in New York City and New Jersey. A work-and-outdoor boot designed to be waterproof therefore acquired a second, urban identity entirely separate from its intended terrain — the same pattern seen in other outdoor and workwear products whose durability and silhouette read as style in a city setting. In 1978 and 1979 Timberland added casual and boat shoes to its boots line, in the 1980s the company expanded internationally, first into the Italian market and later to many other countries, and under Sidney Swartz Timberland started to become a lifestyle brand, adding clothing and women's shoes. Throughout the 1990s it added backpacks, watches and kids' footwear, and in 1998 the Timberland PRO series of work boots for the professional was launched.

Acquisitions and the VF Agreement

Jeffrey Swartz stepped up to become CEO of the company and brand his grandfather and father had started, keeping the chief executive role inside the founding family across three generations. In December 2006 the company acquired Howies, the Welsh clothing company, and on April 26, 2007 Timberland acquired skateboard footwear company Ipath. The company also sells items in the apparel market including watches, leather goods and eyewear. On June 16, 2011, VF Corporation and The Timberland Company jointly announced that they had signed a definitive merger agreement — the point at which a Boston shoemaking business founded on an apprentice stitcher's career, and named in 1973 for a waterproof boot, was set to join the same corporation that owns other branded lifestyle apparel lines.