Three Reasons Why We Love Earth Day
What’s to love about a day of community service in honor of Earth Day?
#1. POWER TOOLS
#2. PAINT
#3. WHEELBARROWS
We also love mulch, rakes, hammers and all sorts of other toys of the great outdoors we don’t get to play with during the course of a normal business day.
Timberland volunteers were not the only ones to get out and celebrate Earth Day this week – it looks like our West Coast colleagues at The North Face, lucy and JanSport had a great day doing good work, too:
Yes, it was a lot of fun – and incredibly meaningful for the local community and environmental organizations who benefited from our efforts. Thanks to the Timberland and VF volunteers who took time out this week to make a difference in their world; the sore muscles and sunburned arms were well worth it.
We Say Deering, You’ll Say Darling
Because they are really just the cutest boat shoes going, don’t you think?
And if cute isn’t enough, our Deering Boat Ballerinas are part of our Earthkeepers collection — Timberland’s most eco-minded product assortment. Here’s our women’s footwear designer Erin to tell us more about how eco-consciousness plays a role in the design and development of Timberland products:
From 100% recycled PET laces and linings to recycled rubber outsoles to leather sourced from tanneries rated Silver for their energy, waste and water practices, the Deering was made with the environment — and your summertime outdoor adventures — in mind.
And in a bouquet of bright colors, the Deering Boat Ballerina was made with the rest of your wardrobe in mind, too; shop for your favorite flavor now. To learn more about our use of eco-conscious materials, check out the Timberland Technology Guide.
Lace ‘Em Up and Move ‘Em Out: It’s Earth Day!
Okay – so technically Earth Day isn’t until April 22, but why wait? We’re an outdoors brand that cares an awful lot about the environment (it is, after all, our playground), and we’re headed out a few days early to give it some extra TLC.
If you’re thinking that Earth Day service isn’t for you because it’s too unsavory (think smelly roadside trash pickup) or too episodic (you clean up smelly roadside trash today, only to find more in its place tomorrow), here are some examples of the kinds of things our Timberland team around the globe will be doing this week – and month – to celebrate Earth Day and support the notion of environmental sustainability:
- Getting rid of bad seeds: At Pasir Ris Park in Singapore, volunteers from Timberland’s Asian Headquarters will remove invasive species, including Pong Pong fruits and ferns, to help preserve an area of mangrove trees.
- Educating future environmentalists: In Milan Italy, Timberland volunteers will partner with Legambiente to teach 200+ children about the importance of respecting the environment. The students will have an opportunity to put learning into practice as they remove graffiti, plant trees and create a botanical garden.
- Making greater use of the great outdoors: In a local community in our own home state of New Hampshire, volunteers will help to transform overgrown and under-utilized conservation land into a public park with areas for playing and picnicing, as well as a trail network.
And, we’re spreading the love. This is Timberland’s first Earth Day as a member of the VF Corporation family, and we’re beyond excited to have several of our “siblings” joining in our longstanding tradition of community service. San Francisco-area employees from The North Face, JanSport and lucy will be volunteering this week for the Alameda Point Collaborative, an organization that provides transitional housing for formerly homeless people and families. And further south, our colleagues at Vans, Reef and Eagle Creek are planning their own Earth Day service celebrations as well.
All told, we’ve got more than 3,500 volunteers doing their part to revitalize nearly 150 communities around the world. That’s a lot of boots on the ground doing a lot of good hard work for our dear Mother Earth.
Stay tuned! We’ll be sharing photos, video and Earth Day event recaps here on the Bootmakers Blog. Want to get in on the action? Visit Earth Day Network’s website to find out about Earth Day events in your area.
10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation
Every four years the greatest sailors in the world compete for glory – and this year, Timberland is going along for the sail as the sponsor of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation. Between races, we sat down with three members of the team so we could get to know them a little better:
Onan Barreiros
1. The most incredible place Onan Barreiros has ever sailed is the Bahamas.
2. If he wasn’t sailing, Onan would be playing football.
3. His second favorite outdoor activity is road biking.
Federico Alonso
4. Federico Alonso isn’t superstitious, but he always sails the day before a championship starts.
5. If Federico had to give his boat a name, it would be Miura (that’s what he called his first wooden boat).
6. Even sailors get seasick. He’s been sick on a boat and knows it’s a pretty nasty feeling!
Aaron Sarmiento
7. When Aaron Sarmiento isn’t on the water, he likes to bike, run and play tennis.
8. If Aaron wasn’t a sailor, he’d like to be a professor.
9. He started sailing when he was 11 years old!
And the #10 thing you might not know about the Spanish sailors is that they all consider good grip one of the most essential features in their footwear. It’s a good thing they’re wearing Timberland Formentor boat shoes with Gripstick rubber to keep them on deck and on course.
The Royal Spanish Sailing Federation knows the no. 1 rule to looking good on a boat (and winning the race) is staying on the boat. Follow in their slip-free footsteps and get your own pair of Formentors by shopping our boat shoe collection.
If Frogger Wore Boat Shoes, He’d Play This Game
Stay on the boat! That’s the idea behind the Timberland game of the same name, in which you have to navigate one seriously crowded waterway and make it to your team’s boat before time runs out. To play, you’ll need:
- Nerves of steel
- Lightning-fast reflexes
- A pair of virtual Timberland Formentor boat shoes
Then, you’re ready to try your luck at leaping and lunging across kayaks, rafts and sailboats without falling into the shark-infested water. Along the way, we’ll even give you the chance to collect eco-tips you can use to reduce your own environmental footprint.
All aboard – you’ll find the Stay on the Boat challenge and other fun stuff on the Games page of our website. And if you really want to get in the game, check out the shoes, jackets and bags in our Formentor Collection.
Evaluating our Code of Conduct Program
Timberland prides itself on a long-standing Code of Conduct program. Over the years, we’ve shifted our work in factories to expand beyond basic compliance, trained our assessment team to incorporate workers’ voices, and helped factory management build better management systems. We include environmental and social/labor conditions in our assessments, and go beyond factory walls to assess whether workers are able to meet their basic needs. We rely on partnerships with stakeholder groups and standards bodies to vet our approach against best-in-class training programs, processes for corrective action plans, and mechanisms for worker empowerment. We don’t have all the answers, but we know that giving workers a voice is critical for leveraging our business to create improved working conditions and quality of life.
So, how are we doing?
In 2010, Timberland commissioned Social Accountability International (SAI) to review whether our Code of Conduct program is implemented in the field as designed. SAI is a non-governmental organization whose mission is to advance the rights of workers around the world. As a Corporate Member of SAI, we share their mission to improve working conditions in our or supply chain in accordance with relevant ILO conventions and national law. We asked SAI to validate our program’s capability of achieving our objectives, including a review of our team’s necessary skills to be effective.
SAI’s comprehensive assessment concluded that there are key areas of our Code of Conduct program that are working well, producing positive results and even “best practice.” SAI also uncovered a number of areas for improvement and opportunities for us to mitigate potential risks and improve the impact of our Code of Conduct program. You can read more about SAI’s detailed findings and recommendations on the Responsibility section of our website.
Overall, the Timberland Code of Conduct program is extremely sophisticated in its design and places Timberland among the leaders in the field.
- Craig Moss, project lead and SAI’s Director of Corporate Programs and Training
SAI’s thoroughness enabled this process to truly validate our program’s capability and effectiveness. We look forward to continued partnership with SAI as we continue to work to create real improvements in our supply chain.
Ensuring that the thousands of people worldwide who make our products have fair and safe workplaces is part of our commitment to running a responsible business. To learn more about our Code of Conduct program, visit the Responsibility section of our website.
10-Sec Tech: Ride the Wave of Uneven Terrain
The great outdoors doesn’t come equipped with level surfaces or handrails — and sometimes, navigating a tough trail (or even a seemingly innocuous path) can cause even the most agile among us to slip, trip and fall. To save face and stay on her feet, what’s an outdoor-loving woman to do?
That’s the very question that inspired our latest 10-Sec Tech:
Trail Wave Technology may not be as fun as pillow feet or as confidence-boosting as having your own wave of fans, but if you’re looking for comfort and stability in a woman’s shoe that lets you rule the trail (as opposed to the trail ruling you), look no further.
Check out the Trail Wave Collection for women on our website. And to learn more about Trail Wave Technology and the other ingenious ways we’re working to make our products grippier, sticker and just plain better, flip through the Timberland Technology Guide.
When a House Becomes a Home
Last September during Timberland Serv-a-palooza (our annual global community service event), over 150 Timberland employees, associates, friends and family members pulled on their boots and spent the day in the rainy parking lot at our Stratham, NH headquarters. The project: working with Habitat for Humanity to frame five houses that would be given to families from Joplin, Missouri whose homes were devastated by last spring’s tornadoes.
Inspired by Timberland’s commitment, the Tulsa Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity matched and exceeded our donation by framing an additional ten houses for the Joplin community.
Six months later, I’m excited to report that all fifteen houses are now finished and occupied by happy homeowners, including Amber Lancaster and her two sons. They couldn’t be more appreciative or deserving of the Timberland house they’re now calling home:
Breaking ground on Amber's house
Timberland-built frames going up!
The finished product
To learn more about Timberland’s commitment to creating a positive impact on our communities, please visit the Responsibility section of our website.
Keeping It Simple
Four materials — that’s all you’ll find in our Earthkeepers Hookset Handcrafted Collection. Because there’s a time for complicated recipes, super-specific technologies, bling and apps and bells and whistles … and there’s a time for keeping it simple.
Four materials means easier to source and easier to build, less waste and less impact on the environment. Here’s Earthkeepers Design Director Pete to tell us more about this super-simple style:
You’ll find the Hookset Handcrafted Collection on our website. To read more about how we use eco-conscious materials (like those found in Hookset footwear), check out the Timberland technology guide.
Bye Bye, Wool Socks … Hello, Peep Toes
If you’re not quite ready to give up the cozy comforts of winter and embrace the light bright styles of spring, these fresh-picked Timberland Boot Company beauties may give you just the kick you need:
The Spring 2012 Boot Company styles draw their inspiration from the similarly durable-yet-beautiful women’s footwear found in the early 20th century — well made, well worn and well loved. Here’s Penny, our Women’s Boot Company Designer, to tell us more:
Our Spring 2012 Boot Company collection for women offers beautiful craftsmanship in a bouquet of styles. Pick one for yourself.
