Untitled - Timberland

The Rig Out for Timberland
Into the Trees
When we were asked to do this project
it seemed like it was meant to be. The
more we thought about it, the more
connections we made and the bigger
the scale of the project became. It
was natural for us to reach out to
ournetwork of friends and artists to
ask them to be involved. Everybody
included in the project was a carefully
considered decision made by the
Rig Out with the help of Timberland.
We knew that we wanted to use
Beaverbrook as the location.
Beaverbrook is a patch of land in
upstate New York, situated near
the Delaware River that borders
Pennsylvania, not far from Barryville.
It is home to a group of artists,
musicians and web developers
who collectively started the website
www.cabinporn.com. As you may
have guessed, the area is filled with
the most amazing cabins built by
the guys themselves. They come to
Beaverbrook to relax, get out of the
city, and become inspired.
Noah Kalina once again collaborates
with us on this project. Noah is an
amazing guy whose dry wit betrays
an artist’s deep soul (he will kill us for
saying this). He needs no introduction
as his work speaks for itself.
We start the film in Noah’s
Williamsburg studio and follow him
from the city to the country where
he picks up Mordechai Rubinstein
(mrmort.com) before meeting the
other guys at Beaverbrook. Here
they help collect firewood and
gather round for a celebration
of friendship and camaraderie.
We’ve known Mordechai for a number
of years now and have been fans of
his website and his overall aesthetic.
Mordechai keeps things real on
a fundamental level. Only those
that know the rules are allowed
to break them and again he too
needs no introduction.
Finally, we were thrilled to have
Mr. Gary Warnett holding down
the writing duties for the zine part
of the project. Gary’s knowledge of
footwear borders on the extreme and
his opinion is valued from brand to
consumer. Another old friend that
probably will never speak to us again
after reading this…
This project tells the Timberland story,
and that of the three boots that they
have chosen to remake—or reimagine.
The Super 6", The Superboot and
the World Hiker—updated only with
advancements in technology that time
has allowed. They also pay homage
to Timberland’s 40 years on the
footwear frontline.
Overall, Into the Trees has been an
amazing experience for the Rig Out
and we think the project symbolizes
the essence of Timberland—a coming
together of people.
Timberland is a brand that for 40
years has never ‘chased’ anything. It is
a brand that has ploughed its own path
and in doing so has allowed different
people; artists, creatives, rugged
outdoorsmen, paninari, rappers and
hipsters to adopt its timeless products.
It’s a brand that has transcended
subcultures and fashion and with
it the adage still remains…
‘Best then. Better now.’
The Rig Out
Glenn Kitson & Antony Crook
May 2013
BOOTCAMP
“I be having baggy jeans,
Timberland boots steel toe,
I be getting biz, yo.”
Mr. Cheeks, Lost Boyz ‘All Right’
Uniting a wide range of loyalists—from the aspirational
everyman spending big on boots, to the old and new
generations of hip-hop’s elite, and even builders in
Timberland PRO® steel toe variations, Timberland’s
got some tales to tell.
If you’re hunting for some sub-cultural presence, plus
mainstream penetration, this brand has it made. But here’s
the thing—sometimes we don’t see the forest for the trees
(a fitting cliché given the foliage in the Timberland logo).
There’s a lot of history in and beyond those
tan-coloured classics.
In 1952, the brand started in Massachusetts as the Abington
Shoe Company, and was tasked with doing the hard work
for other brands to label as their own. Abington was
sought after for their pioneering development of injection
molding that changed footwear forever. A waterproof and
stitch-free fusion of sole and upper would deliver superior
performance for a hard-working audience who were
Super 6"
wearing their shoes in death serious situations. It wasn’t
until 1973—40 years ago—that The Timberland®
Yellow Boot was introduced as an Abington in-house
brand. The Timberland® boot quickly became so
popular and wildly successful that the Abington Shoe
Company decided to change the name of their company
to “Timberland”. Unaware of what they had created,
the boot would remain a bestseller for the company
for the next 40 years.
The Timberland® line started with an 8" boot as the
hero (the waterproof 8" style #10081 with a nonpadded collar) which might be the first Timberland®
wheat mini-buck shoe ever. The original collection also
featured a padded collar 8" boot (style #12281) and
a 6" padded collar variant (iconic style #10061), which
would become an urban staple for decades to come.
World Hiker
Sold alongside the 9-inch Wellington boot with
its warm shearling lining (style #11297), the
Outdoors Proof 6" and 8" boots were constructed
for conditions of 20° below, with glove soft
®
linings and premium leather, plus the Goodyear
variants
8"
PlioTuf-U lugged sole. By 1976, the
were available in tan or green nubuck or a black
smooth leather, while the padded collar 6" was
available in wheat nubuck and brown smooth.
Its emphasis on warmth meant a greater level of
insulation was present than the inline editions of
today’s model.
By 1978, those boots (“A whole line of fine leather
boots that cost plenty, and should”—according
to their ad campaign at the time) had become
extremely popular and were accompanied by a
chukka boot as well as a few other silhouettes that
were added to the line. In the early 1980s, the
wheat workboot evolved to become a statement
of cold weather style; increasingly, the boot was
being worn by inner city dwellers in NYC and
along the I-95 corridor. New York was a combat
boot territory prior to that movement.
Meanwhile, other near-mythical releases
trickled into the Timberland® range: if you
were up on your rap lyrics, the infamous 40
Below might have been on your wish list.
Under its real name, the Super Boot, the 40
Below was the pinnacle of boot design when
it was originally released in 1979. Ten inches
high, the lanky offspring of a tall work boot
and a field boot dominated its siblings. It
featured double insulation, a 4" garment
leather collar, latex sealed multi row stitching,
silicone impregnated Krymp Oxide leather,
and a Vibram® yellow label sole. This was an
advanced creation that united the combat
boot aesthetic with Timberland D.N.A.
Retailing at $160+ (and ultimately rising to
®
twice the price of a #10061) the Timberland
Super Boot remained in the range for several
years. In a world where planned obsolescence
is a norm, the nearly indestructible nature
of the Super Boot made it the urban assault
vehicle of the boot world. Meant to be warm
enough for workers in colder climates to use
like the #10061, it had other uses too.
of the Super Boot
The escalating popularity
late 1980s discovery
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the Iditarod Sup
Super Boots existed on
little more complex: two
ates on which is the
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the market, leadin
“true” 40 Below.
Super Boot
The Iditarod Super Boot had the same Krymp
leather (shrunken grain leather that’s water
resistant) as the Original Super Boot, but the
breathable waterproof lining and Thinsulate®
insulation (the best on the market at the time) made
it a shoe engineered for Alaskan outdoors workers.
By testing it in those extreme 40° below conditions,
its everyday functionality was perfected. Other
alterations to the Iditarod edition were the rustproof
NATO lacing system and chunkier Vibram®
TURF-SAVER lug sole. It’s worth noting that
the debate over a true 40 Below is further
complicated by the existence of the equally resilient
Super Guide Boot from the late 1980s, with its blend
of conventional eyelets and D-rings. Just as North
Face gooses were perfect for inner-city outdoor work,
the Super Boot was the ultimate footwear for it too.
Amidst the engineering of the Super Boot in the
1980s, Timberland also began manufacturing
footwear for trail hiking. 1983’s 5" Waterproof
Hiker, was a shoe ahead of its time with its
incorporation of a GORE-TEX® lining. 1987
ushered in the waterproof GORE-TEX®
fabric lined Sport Boots for ramblers and hunters.
Lightweight and insulated, they were part of a
rollout that pushed theTimberland aesthetic to
a different market, re-launching the mid-cut
Waterproof Hiker in those hood classic “Beef and
Broccoli” and “Mac and Cheese” makeups. Later
renamed the Timberland® Field Boot, that design
remains a bestseller with the urban audience today.
1989’s introduction of the Euro Hiker was aimed at
delivering some sports footwear cues to the common
boot style in order to capture the hybrid market of
the time. Then, in 1994, every single Timberland
learning thus far seemed to merge for the World
Hiker series.
If you’ve mastered the work boot, then surely
you could turn your hand to serious hiking, right?
For those fully entrenched in the Timberland cult,
the 1994 debut of the World Hiker collection was
significant. Co-created by an Italian designer in
Montebelluna, Italy, fit and comfort were a
priority in the series. The Up Country Plus
Backpacker, Up Country Hiker, Front Country
Hiker and Front Country Day Hiker all boastfully
sat atop Italian-made 7.5mm rubber lug outsoles,
but it was the full length contoured last and
tooling on both Up Country designs that brought
something completely new to the hiking market.
The pinnacle of the collection, the
Up Country Plus Backpacker (often
referred to as simply “The World
Hiker”) was the hiker redefined:
traditional elements like Europeansourced full-grain buck leather were
complemented by a 3-layer footbed
system for a definitive fit. A perforated,
breathable leather orthotic sockliner,
3mm of Poron® microcellular foam
and a Dri-Lex® fabric lining were
added to ensure comfort. A rubber
rand increased resilience and dual
hinged flexing zones provided versatility
without compromising support. After
some expensive development time to
the shoe, Timberland developed the
ski boot influenced locking tongue that
impressed the serious “peak baggers”
far beyond the Alps that the boots were
designed around.
The sturdy sole and flexible upper, for
unrestrained movement, made this
World Hiker collection memorable—
a big budget exploration into a
marketplace where sloppy build is a
matter of life and death, where
protection with freedom to move is a
necessity. In this line, the familiar tree
logo was replaced with an ambitious
Elements of Design concept to represent
what the boots would evade during
wear: Wind, Water, Earth (representing
abrasion resistance) and Sky (for the
temperature sensitive part of the shoes).
For 40 years, the wheat “buck” workboot
has been a brand constant, representing
Timberland everywhere from inner cities
to rural countrysides. The Super Boot
and World Hiker however, have been
as tough to track down as they were
originally built. Occasionally traded
and discussed, glimpsed in rap videos
from a debated golden era, discussed as
colloquial nicknames and even named by
product code, they’ve even been eulogized
by some who used them for their
intended purpose.
The Super Boot
In response to the cult followin
g of the 40
Below, the 40th Anniversary
of The Original
®
Timberland Yellow Boot ush
ers in a limited
edition Timberland® Super Boo
t that brings
back the Original Super Boo
t with an updated
200 grams of PrimaLoft® insu
lation, heavy
duty Highway Waterproof leat
her upper,
and a rugged Vibram® 132K
lugged outsole.
Packaged in a replica of the orig
inal box,
only 1,973 pairs will be availabl
e worldwide.
The World Hiker
Fans of the World Hiker have the opportunity to get a
fresh pair for the first time since 1998. The boot conjures
up the might of the original World Hiker Up Country
Plus Backpacker, bringing back that fit, the contoured
last and the finest materials on the market. The 2013
World Hiker has been updated with a durable Buckram
Waterproof leatherupper and features the original Italian
made Vibram® 1360 outsole. Also served up in collectors
packaging, only 1,973 pairs will be available worldwide.
The Super 6" Boot
It’s tough to build on the power of the 10061 workboot,
but consider the white collared Super 6" as the wheat on
steroids. Updating the original boot with 400 grams of
PrimaLoft® insulation inside, it also includes a GORE-TEX®
fabric lining to make it truly Outdoors Proof in line with the
design’s intent. As a finishing touch, the classic sole is sourced
by Vibram for this limited edition creation. In tribute to its
birth year, only 1,973 pairs will be available worldwide.
The Rig Out for Timberland
Into the Trees
info@therigout
www.therigout.com
Creative Director: Glenn Kitson
Photographer : Antony Crook
Copy:Gary Warnett
Design: Peter Cline
Copy Editor:
Mark Smith
Illustration:
Peter O’Toole