Started in 1918 by Nathan Swartz, a shoemaker from Ukraine, Timbs Boots was first started by Nathan Swartz and his sons. This was done by them purchasing all shares of the Abington Shoe Company founded in South Boston 1933 throughout the 1950s Abington Shoe company would later move to Newmarket, New Hampshire in 1969 and focused on producing waterproof boots by that time, due to the region they were in.
The Timberland Boot was then introduced in 1973 and became intensely popular, causing them to focus on the shoe and rebranding to the Timberland Company in 1978. From this time the company focused on marketing to blue collar and mostly white workers. But then during the 80s and 90s the timberland boot would be adopted by many hip hop artists and pop figures, its popularity originating from New York City. This introduced the boot to a black audience, and then other groups as well.
According to consumer journalist Rob Walker, the boots were first adopted by New York drug dealers, who needed to stand on the street all night, and the boot was perfect for cold and wet weather. The boots would later spread to some of New York City’s best and most iconic rappers, who were familiar with that scene. At first Timbs tried to distance themselves from this audience, but then they grew to embrace that scene as rap music helped boost their sales.
So that’s a short history of the boots, anyone else think the Timberland logo was a guy in a snow mask as a kid?
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