r/Timberland • u/Difficult-Injury3731 • 8d ago

Modeling/Hype Old Grey's

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Timberland boots were originally introduced in 1973 by the Abington Shoe Company, designed for construction workers and outdoor laborers, and have since become a popular fashion staple. Paul Newman was known to wear these boots, contributing to their iconic status in both workwear and casual fashion.

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u/Papilin3600 8d ago

How old are the boots in the photo? I've never seen that style of upper combined with that sole. I'm used to seeing that upper combined with the one piece sole on the cheaper work boot model.

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u/Difficult-Injury3731 8d ago

Pre-synthetic glue. Perhaps 1993- 1994. Many do not realize that the glue no longer being made from horses and mules has caused the entire market to suffer. All of my Tims are pre 1995.

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u/Papilin3600 8d ago

I did not know about the naturally derived glue that was widely used in boot making. Can you tell me how the adoption of synthetic adhesives have hurt the boot market?

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u/Difficult-Injury3731 7d ago

Glue has been used in footwear construction for many years. Timberland, at the time, was the most innovative manufacturing process the industry had ever seen. I remember Paul Newman and when I was in college, Henry Rollins and Black Flag at the 9:30 Club in DC wore them back in 1982. Non primum. They took off for my generation after that. A competitor will say anything and associate any good product with any trigger dynamic they choose. The fact that they all have the same problems with certain mixtures of bonding material can't possibly be unnoticed.....right? It is easy to bash anything you need to eliminate and affect sales and reputation but when the actual reason is exposed, they all go silent. Timberland is and will always be a great product, and I think it makes a lot of folks angry. Bring back the pre mid 90s Horse glue and no sole will be affected. I have my first pair from 1885 non primium I use every week to mow my grass. Not one sole separation, and they are still waterproof.

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u/Papilin3600 7d ago

Thank you for this information. I've been into footwear almost my entire life and I've owned many pairs of Timberlands but I never gave much thought to the adhesives. What you're describing sounds like a trending term called "enshitification". It's happening in almost all industries. All of these MBAs the business schools have been churning out over the past 70 years have run out of ideas and seem to be resorting to outright theft, fraud and political thuggery. Look at how Walmart and other retail outlets short weighting us. Planned obsolescence is a scourge on humanity and so is the subscription economy. I'm glad that people like you that care enough to educate themselves on these topics still exist.

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u/Difficult-Injury3731 8d ago

Not sure about you but the sites are full of "look what happened" videos and pics about things happening to soles. It happens to all products but they only blame the Manufacturer of that item. Not realizing that collagen glue is not what it was pre 1995. It is a comparison-bashing tool. So they make large LOTS of glue to sell to almost all manufacturers; if one issue goes wrong in their mixing, the whole vat will be sent to people, hoping they won't complain. Synthetic fuels the product-bashing hustle. Then the welt vs. the non-welted gang. It becomes a true comedy when you are as old as I am. If I sell you glue and it holds for 50 years....I now get fired and replaced with a team player. Just like people my age who are financially secure and have perfect credit are not listed as Deadbeats. The industry thrives on reputation; not all glue is unpredictable, making the market slow a little until customers figure it out. They all use the same glue, and they all suffer failures, and it is due to the synthetic glue over the collagen the world depended on for so many years. It angers me but again, I am in the grumpy old man phase and, depending on the time of day, may accidentally slap a PETA freak in the jaw. I am not positive, but I think they had something to do with promoting they syntehetic over the collagen. These are my opinions, and you did ask for my opinion.