Archive for January, 2012
Who Needs An Angry Bird When You’ve Got a 6 Inch Boot?
Bad weather, bad cold, bad day … we can appreciate that even the most hardcore outdoor enthusiast needs some down time inside once in a while. Check out the new Games section on our website, where you can take quizzes to find out what kind of tree personality you have (sturdy oak or flirty palm?) and what your packing habits say about you.
If quizzes aren’t your thing, try the bottle crusher game: Using the hard core soles of your virtual boots to destroy as many plastic bottles as you can is dangerously addictive.
Those of you looking for games with greater goodness, check out our Earthkeepers virtual forest. You create the forest, invite your friends to join you there, and plant virtual trees. For every tree you plant in the virtual forest, you’ll help Timberland plant a real tree in Haiti. And isn’t that better than any trinket you ever won at the arcade?
Click here. Play now. It’s all fun and games until the next snowstorm takes your power out.
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.
