Swartz reminded readers of the brand's multi-million dollar investment in volunteer corp groups City Year, which served underprivileged groups in inner cities. stood by the original article, according to Newsday.) (Williams was seen placing her Timberland's in a garbage can, according to Newsday.)įollowing the Times interview, Swartz wrote an op-ed for the New York Amsterdam News (a highly respected, Black-owned newspaper) titled, "The New York Times again: racism sells-don't buy it." Swartz called the Times article "character assasination" and an attempt to make Swartz and Timberland look racist. The Times story reached Black readers across America, even prompting then-popular radio DJs like Wendy Williams to encourage Black consumers to boycott the brand. Swartz went on to tell the Times that, while Black consumers' money "spends good," he was not going to "build his business on smoke." "Part of this was that it was an explanation for why Timberland was not advertising in magazines like Vibe," Walker says. The Black-owned news outlet the Los Angeles Sentinel reported that in 1993 Black Americans were outspending non-Blacks by 50% in footwear and by 4% in clothing purchases.īut while Timberland executives recognized that young, Black consumers had adopted their product, they did not immediately embrace it.
Throughout the '90s, New York rappers adopted Timberland in their style and in their music: Biggie Smalls was photographed wearing the boots during performances, and rapped about "Timbs for my hooligans in Brooklyn" in his 1997 song "Hypnotize," while Nas wore them throughout his 25-year career and rapped lyrics like "Suede Timbs on my feets makes my cipher complete" in his 1994 song "The World is Yours."Īs Timberland grew throughout the '90s (between 19, Timberland's profits increased from $80 million to over $500 million, and by 2000, revenues passed $1 billion, according to the SEC), researchers took a serious look at Black consumer spending, which grew at a rapid pace in the '90s. The company took out ads in magazines like The New Yorker and sold the shoe at stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, according to a 1985 The New York Times. In the beginning, Timberlands were for "people who worked in factories or construction," says Rob Walker, Author of "Buying In: What We Buy and Who We Are." But as the boot rose in popularity, the Swartz family who owned the brand wanted to appeal to a "high-end" clientele "who wants to go away for the weekend and be comfortable," Timberland's then-principle store designer, Cebra Robusto, told The Boston Globe in 1988. So in 1978, the company changed its name to Timberland, according to a 1983 article from The Boston Globe. By the late 1970s, 80% of all the products Abington Shoe sold were Timberland boots. The company called it the Timberland boot. In 1973, Abington Shoe used an innovative molding technique to produce a waterproof, 6-inch Nubuck leather boot that could withstand harsh weather.
The Timberland brand was birthed from a small, New England-based shoemaker, The Abington Shoe company.
0 kommentar(er)
