Published
Feb 22, 2023
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Timberland 50th birthday sees launch of Future73 caspules from international names

Published
Feb 22, 2023

With this year marking the 50th anniversary of the original Timberland boot, the brand has launched Future73, a design initiative including six “future-makers” who have been “reimagining” the boot “for the worlds ahead”.


The designers


They include Samuel Ross of A Cold Wall, Christopher Raeburn who’s a long-time collaborator of Timberland’s, Clot founder/designer Edison Chen, Knit In Motion innovator Suzanne Oude Hengel, artist Nina Chanel Abney, and designer Humberto Leon

Hailing from the UK, North America, Hong Kong, and mainland Europe, they’ve come up with new iterations of the Premium 6-Inch Boot “through their own lens of bold innovation”. 

Their capsule collections include complementary apparel pieces too and will drop between March and October. 

“By infusing Timberland’s legacy with their unique vision, these iconoclasts have created a window into the past to modernise the icon for the worlds ahead,” the company said. 

They’ve worked with the Timberland design team to add details from “new and unexpected knit technologies, to exaggerated features like super-chunky rubber soles, to inspiring artwork coming to life, with the boot as canvas”. 

The project also produced the first-ever version of the boot to be designed for disassembly through the brand’s Timberloop circularity platform. Each was imagined and prototyped in the brand's new in-house design innovation lab and maker space. 

As mentioned, along with the star boot, the creators also came up with apparel capsules to complete each look. In addition, each had the opportunity to create a second future-looking footwear design, based on the Timberland silhouette of their choosing. 


Christopher Raeburn's boot



The launches are happening in seven phases from next month and will be available at major fashion and streetwear retailers, as well as Timberland flagships and its webstore. 

The company said that “each drop will have its own launch moment, inviting consumers to participate in creative sessions where the future makers will share their vision and inspire the next generation of creative trailblazers. This will be supported by a robust digital and social media campaign, including striking photography and a series of heartfelt video interviews discussing their Future73 process and the overarching ideas behind their collections, to amplify storytelling and connect with consumers worldwide”. 

Drieke Leenknegt, Chief Marketing Officer for Timberland said: “Each has taken the Timberland Premium 6-Inch Boot and transformed it through the lens of their own bold innovation and design ethos, giving us a view of what the icon of the future might look like. It’s our legacy, with their vision, and together we’re forging new frontiers of boot culture.” 

As well as the key designer collabs, the company is dropping a new Hip Hop Royalty Boot on Friday, a homage to the boot’s adoption by hip-hop culture in the 1990s.

And it said that “to honour the community that helped make Timberland the brand it is today, [it] will host youth design workshops in key cities along the I-95 corridor this spring and summer in partnership with CNSTNT:DVLPMNT, a small Black-owned business founded by Timberland footwear designer Chris Dixon to cultivate untapped talent and expand the creative community”. 

It will also “invite consumers to customise and personalise their Timberland boots like never before, in both digital and physical spaces. The first will be unveiled this spring, at the soon-to-open Timberland flagship store in New York City (Soho), offering everything from boot cleaning and repair services to design customisations”. 

Later in the year, the celebration continues with a 30-minute documentary film “chronicling the pivotal innovation, fashion, and cultural moments behind the original Timberland Boot, as well as two special 50th Anniversary Boot collections. It all culminates in October, with celebrations and film screenings in cities that are central to the Timberland story, such as London, Shanghai, and New York City”.

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