Earthkeeping Pledges Aplenty at Sundance
The scene at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival hasn’t been all snow and celebrities (although apparently there’s been loads of both) … at the Timberland booth, festival-goers are invited to make their own personal pledge to help preserve the environment and protect the outdoors. Here’s Amanda with a show and tell:
And, here are more of our favorite pledges that have come in at Sundance so far:
Inspired to make your own Earthkeeping pledge? Share it with us here. And stay tuned … the curtain doesn’t close at the Sundance Film Festival for a few more days, and we’ve got lots more to share. You can find additional videos and photos from our Timberland team’s Sundance experience on the Festivals page of our website.
Kicking Off 20 Years of Timberland Service
Freezing temps and snowy grounds aren’t enough to keep Timberland employees from pulling on their boots to serve. This week, nine employee volunteers—including Timberland President Patrik Frisk—helped rejuvenate a local senior housing complex by repainting an indoor corridor. “Service is a great way to build community and meet people you wouldn’t normally get to work with,” Patrik (the second to arrive on the scene and the first to dig in to prep work) said.
Our service partner, Seacoast Adopt-a-Block, is an awesome organization that formed in 2005 to improve the community and help serve others. They explain, “Our vision was to never do this for money or recognition but to get to know our neighbors and help make their lives a little easier. That is what being a community all is about.” We agree!
This week’s event kicks off a monthly series of service projects planned to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Timberland’s Path of Service program. The program gives employees paid time off to perform community service. We have the option to serve as we like, whether it’s leading a Girl Scout troop, coaching youth sports, working at an animal shelter, etc.
We’ve been delighted to find that VF, our new parent company, has embraced the Path of Service with open arms—and is actively exploring how to grow the program among their other outdoor brands. Through service, we aim to be responsible corporate citizens, giving back to the communities in which we live and work. Pleasant side effects include increased employee engagement, boosted morale, and new friendships.
Keep your eyes open for more service stories as 2012 progresses!
Postcards from Park City
Welcome to Park City
The forecast for this week’s 2012 Sundance Film Festival calls for cold snow, fabulous films and moderate-to-heavy celebrity sightings:
Group shot of Caroline Lagerfelt from Gossip Girl and the gang from General Hospital sporting their new Timberland boots
Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul
We caught up with Melissa Roy from Outsourced and CSI on Main Street - nice jacket!
DJ Mick Boogie keeps warm in his Timberland gear
Julia Yorks braving the Park City winter in her Timberland gear!
For more pics and updates from Park City, visit the Festivals page of our website.
The New Pathrock and Something About Smearing
According to our product development team, “gnarly stuff shreds footwear.” That’s a very cool way to say a challenging climb can really ruin your shoes. That’s why they created the new Pathrock:
Whether you’re going … um … smearing … or on a less arduous adventure, the Pathrock Collection of footwear is lightweight, durable and traction-packed enough to protect you against the gnarliest of stuff. See for yourself.
SNOW, Sundance and the Chance to Win Free Stuff
Attention, winter gear lovers: in honor of Timberland’s 4th consecutive year as the Official Footwear and Outerwear Sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival, SNOW magazine is giving away Timberland gear to one lucky reader! Visit SNOW’s website to enter, and hurry up: contest ends January 30th.
If you’re lucky enough to be in Park City next week, stop by the Timberland booth to say hi! We’ll be offering special giveaways and showcasing our latest products. And if you can’t be there in person, check out the Festivals section of our website — we’ll be bringing you regular updates, photos and videos from the 2012 Sundance Film Festival all week long.
Only 63 Days Til Spring …
What? There’s no rule that says you can’t enjoy the present (in all its icy, snowy, freezing glory) and still look forward to the future. And when the future includes light, bright styles like these, you might just find yourself hoping for an early thaw.
Earthkeepers Deering Boat Ballerina
Formentor Ventilated
Earthkeepers Rudston Mid Lace Boot
Earthkeepers Hooksett Handcrafted Fabric Oxford
You can preview more of Timberland’s best spring styles for men and women on our website.
NH Earthkeepers: We Want Your Earth Day Projects!
Although it’s hard to imagine while we’re in still in the clutches of winter, spring is only a few months away … and with spring comes Earth Day. Every year, Timberland employees across the globe pull on their boots to make a positive impact on their local communities and the environment, and we’re gearing up to make Earth Day 2012 better than ever.
Here at Timberland’s headquarters in New Hampshire, we’re seeking Earth Day projects that will contribute to the regreening of our local communities — tree planting, creating community gardens, building and maintaining trail systems — anything that will help people explore and enjoy the outdoors we care so much about.
Interested? Click here to download the RFP for Timberland’s 2012 Earth Day projects. The deadline to submit RFPs is January 25th (so get moving!).
If you don’t live in New Hampshire and are interested in helping Timberland make a difference in your community this Earth Day, check in with your local Timberland store.
Timberland Haiti and President Clinton: Remembering and Rebuilding
Timberland’s vice president of supply chain, Gareth Brooks, shared the following update with the Timberland community today. 2 years after the Haiti earthquake, our commitment to helping that nation rebuild continues.
On Wednesday, just one day before the 2nd anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti, I had the honor of hosting former President Bill Clinton at our new factory there. He came, along with staff from The Clinton Foundation, to raise awareness for the continued need for economic development in Haiti – and today, January 12, he’ll attend memorial services for the victims.
Former President Clinton at Timberland's factory in Haiti
Two years later, the country is still devastated by the effect of the earthquake and governmental efforts to rebuild are progressing slowly. Timberland has opened a factory in Haiti not only because it makes good commercial sense, but also because it supports our commitment to community. We’re making products that require specific skills to create, and we’re providing the extensive training required to do so; Haiti doesn’t have a heritage of shoemaking, but our dedicated Haitian staff have demonstrated a willingness to learn.
Handstitchers at work
Since the factory opened in June, we have recruited and trained nearly 150 employees to make handsewn uppers. Our expansion within the facility continues, and next spring we plan to open our first cut-to-box manufacturing line which will produce our first “Made In Haiti” classic handsewns.
Handstitched upper, made in Haiti
In addition to creating jobs and training people to fill them, Timberland also has a significant agro-forestry program in Haiti that combines tree planting and farmer education in a way that is community-managed, self-financed and replicable. Three hundred local farmers volunteer to operate the tree nurseries that supply trees for food, fuel and building material. And, the program is designed to develop each nursery to be self-sustaining after 3 years. Our program has already resulted in almost 2 million trees planted in Haiti; in one of the most deforested nations in the world, the importance of trees can’t be underestimated.
I was proud to join our team in Haiti yesterday, as they shared with President Clinton this amazing facility and the progress we’re making in both manufacturing great products and engaging in the local community.
Where Every Day is a Snow Day
We teamed up with Outside Television to talk with Jesse Davenport– an extreme skier, mother of 3 and Aspen local who loves winter weather as much as she loves her job as a ski patroller. And really – what’s not to love?
You don’t have to live slopeside to share Jesse’s enthusiasm for everything that’s wonderful about winter; declare your own personal snow day and then go outside to enjoy it! Really, go. But be sure to gear up first.
Timberland’s Quarterly CSR Performance
In December, Timberland announced its CSR performance results for Q3 of 2011. Highlights from this quarter’s performance are as follows, organized by Timberland’s four CSR pillars of climate, product, factories, and service:
Climate:
Greenhouse Gas emissions increased by 13% compared to Q3 2010. This change is primarily due to increases in air travel as our business rebounds, and related to efforts to integrate our business with VF Corp (VF acquired Timberland in September 2011). With forecasted business growth this year, we are targeting static emissions for our owned and operated facilities (and employee air travel) as compared with our year end 2010 result.
Product:
Helping to drive reduced environmental impact of our products is a continued focus on chemicals management in manufacturing. In Q3 2011, our global average grams/ pair of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) used in footwear production was 59.0. We continue efforts to reduce VOC consumption by substituting high-VOC containing chemicals or reducing their use altogether if a substitute is not readily available. We are also continuing to prioritize the use of environmentally-preferred materials in our products. In Q3 2011, 16.4% of materials in our apparel production were recycled, organic, or renewable (ROR).
Factories:
In Q3 2011, no factories that Timberland sourced from received a “High Risk” rating. 33% of our suppliers had High Priority scores in Q3 2011, which is relatively the same as our Q2 2011 results. Controlling working hours and effective wage calculation/payment processes were issues for 100% of the High Priority scores in Q3, and our sourcing managers are working closely with these suppliers to ensure that orders are not beyond realistic production capacity of the factories.
Service:
As of the end of Q3 2011, Timberland employees served a total of 78,241 hours (year to date) in their communities. The Hours Utilization Rate (HUR – the percentage of employee service hours used compared to total available according to the Path of ServiceTM program) year to date at the end of Q3 2011 was 36%, which is an improvement when compared to our Q3 2010 result of 28% HUR.
Additional Q3 2011 performance data and analysis can be found on the Goals & Progress section of Timberland’s CSR website.
