Despite Timberland building its image around a rugged "
New Englander" lifestyle and rural
blue collar work, Timberland boots came to have significant value in urban
inner cities and
Black neighborhoods in the 1980s and 1990s. and they soon became an enduring staple of Black, streetwear, and hip hop fashions.
The New York Times reported on the fashion phenomenon in 1993, stating, "Seemingly overnight, Timberland and companies like Carhartt Inc. and North Face, which have made their reputations on manufacturing authentic outdoor and work apparel, have, in the
parlance of the street, become ‘
dope’ and ‘
phat’." Timberland boots, referred to by consumers as "Timbs" or "Butters", thus gained the nickname "the
Air Jordans of boots" and became "the required footwear of the inner-urban set". Prominent artists who featured them in songs or music videos included
Wu-Tang Clan,
Mobb Deep,
Nas,
Tupac Shakur,
The Notorious B.I.G.,
Busta Rhymes,
DMX,
Dipset,
Rihanna,
Drake,
Kanye West, and
Jay-Z.
Controversy In a 1993
The New York Times article about "outdoor" clothing brands' cross-over appeal to Black and Hispanic inner-city youth, Jeffrey Swartz downplayed the importance of the urban youth market in Timberland's success, saying that the company concentrated its advertising on its core customers, "honest working people", adding that the urban market was not "sustainable". and met with Black cultural leaders to explain Timberland's position. The company began more publicly to embrace the urban youth market. In the end, the controversy had little effect on sales. ==Volunteerism, philanthropy, and sustainability==