Je T'imbs: How Timberland Made Itself Fashion Week's Biggest Thing
Timberland, the 50-something-year-old American workwear brand, showed up at Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2024 with something to say.
Here, you might think Timberland was merely one of many brands attempting to dominate Fashion Weeks through sponsorship or sheer ubiquity. After all, it only takes so many freebies to unlock positive press.
But Timberland's approach to the FW24 shows in Paris was uniquely potent.
For one, it was remarkably transparent about its aims. For another, it was even more remarkably successful. No brand owned this year's Fashion Week harder than Timberland and no shoe was more visible than the signature Timberland 6" boot otherwise known as "Timbs."
It really helped that things started with a bang.
On January 12, Louis Vuitton's menswear design team so casually teased a collaborative Timberland boot, overseen and worn by creative director Pharrell, that you'd think it was just another day at the office.
It was not.
Google's trend tracker reveals that searches for Timberland nearly doubled that day, sparking a heightened demand that still hasn't dipped (top queries: "Timberland Louis Vuitton price," "Pharrell Timberlands").
In fact, Timberland searches only multiplied further come January 17, the day after Pharrell properly debuted the collaborative Timbs in his FW24 LV menswear runway show.
LV x TImberland is obviously a big deal in the same way that LV x Nike was. Two titans of culture coming together for co-branded shoes? Come on. This was destined for virality.
Timberland could've called it a day right there. I mean, an LV collab would be the highlight of most company's months, let alone the entire year. But Timberland was merely getting started.
Timbs studded with sparkly sequins walked the runway at Wales Bonner's FW24 show and wore a stylishly functional makeover at White Mountaineering.
Even the attendees wore Timbs, framing some FW24 runway photos with work boots that'll never see a worksite. Witness the Timbs present in the fore- and background of Paris Fashion Week streetstyle.
Some of those might be incidental occurrences but a not-insignificant number of the boots were gifted to editors arriving in Paris. Perfect timing: forecasts called for lows approaching 20°F and plenty of rain. What better occasion to lace up a fresh pair of weatherproof Timbs?
The fact that even the weather participated in Timberland's big win is icing on the cake. It's like fate itself intervened to ensure that Timbs would stomp all over Fashion Week — at time of writing, Timberland is cashing in on its omnipresence with a "Je T'imbs" banner on its website's front page.
Timberland didn't hide the fact that it wanted its 6" boot to be incredibly visible.
"To celebrate the connectivity between lifestyle and fashion, Timberland will authentically immerse itself in Parisian culture throughout Paris Fashion Week," Timberland said in a pre-Fashion Week press release, which promised to plaster Paris with wheat-hued billboards, posters, and "nighttime projections" to further spread to good word.
Timberland had influencers promote and wear its boot, popped-up at insider-y café Recto Verso for a two-day "mini-immersion of Timberland’s culture," and sponsored an afterparty where A$AP Nast and Pigalle founder Stéphane Ashpool took the stage wearing — what else? — Timbs.
It was such a naked marketing push and yet it was such a complete triumph.
Why? Well, really, Timberland's boot is so classic that it sold itself. Like Levi's jeans and Carhartt jackets, Timbs are a cultural totem that command respect even without big-name collabs. You don't have to convince anyone to wear 'em.
Though, it's certainly a good look to show up arm-in-arm (foot-in-foot?) with the industry's biggest and clout-iest names.
A Louis Vuitton collab is basically cruise control for free press but it only went as wide as it did because Timberland's 6" boot brand is already a venerable cultural icon. The Timbs wave crested wider still thanks to all the effort Timberland put into pushing its signature shoe.
It was a one-two-three of LV collab plus timely partnerships plus intelligent activations plus Timbs being, well, Timbs.
Timberland's 6" boot is just that boot. It is the boot.
It may not be the original boot but it is the original's boot, made iconic by its long reign at the center of culture — hip-hop, streetwear, New York City, baby. As hackneyed as it is to term anything "iconic" nowadays, Timbs actually deserve it.
Out of sheer curiosity, I simply typed "boot" into a search bar and pressed Enter. The third result was the archetypal Timberland 6" Boot in wheat nubuck, the one that everyone in Paris was wearing.
Because when you think of the word "boot," you're probably thinking of Timberland.
Those brands that try to use Fashion Week as a vehicle for drumming up buzz often aim to boost new projects and yet-to-be-released product but by doubling down on a shoe already so well-known, Timberland had an early lead in the race for eyeballs.
Ripples were felt throughout culture.
Drake, who wasn't even at Paris Fashion Week, posted up in a pair of glazed boots from Timberland's first Veneda Carter collab in a January 18 Instagram post, standing in workwear solidarity with all of the blue-collar brand's white-collar adaptors.
First-look imagery of Carter's second Timbs collab is already doing the rounds online, by the way — very coincidental timing on Drake's part!
Timberland, owned by the same conglomerate that operates Supreme, The North Face, and Vans, knows what it's doing. In this industry, you're only as good as your last big moment.
Timbs are having a huge moment right now — the next can't be far behind.
