It’s safe to say rap music wasn’t on Sidney
Swartz’s mind when he fi rst laid out the
designs for a yellow six-inch boot back
in 1973. Nicknaming his creation the
Timberland, the Abington Shoe Company
CEO was just hoping to create a superior
boot for the construction workers of New
England – one that was hardy, comfortable
and entirely waterproof. In fact, Swartz was
so preoccupied with creating America’s
fi rst waterproof leather boot that, during the
prototyping phase, he immersed samples in
toilets overnight, just to prove their mettle.With the help of its tagline, “Boots that cost
plenty, and should”, the Timberland led a
quiet revolution in heavy-duty footwear.
They weren’t quite boutique, but they
made a compelling argument that quality
was worth paying for, even if your day
job involved hauling girders or chopping
down trees. The Timberland was a hit
among its target demographic – so much
so that the company changed its name to
match – but few beyond the New England
construction scene had any idea they
existed, let alone that people might opt
to wear them outside of a worksite.Enter cocaine. As America’s war on
drugs ramped up in the 1980s, the
image of the country’s drug dealers
began to change. No longer simple
peddlers of illicit substances, they
became outlaws, men of prestige
and glamour giving the middle
fi nger to a system profoundly biased
against them. Whether that system
justifi ed selling addictive substances
is open to question, but it created
an environment where young black
men suddenly found themselves with
a newfound appreciation for status
symbols. And there, standing front and
centre, was the Timberland 6-Inch.The boot became the calling card of a
certain clique of New York drug dealers,
offering hardiness, water-resistance,
and – with its spacious padded collar – a
place to hide your stash when the police
rocked up. Even then, Timberland mightTimberland x Smith Journalhave remained a curiosity of New York
street culture were it not for the gangsta
rap explosion of the early 1990s. While few
now remember hardcore Brooklyn outfi t
Boot Camp Clik, their 1993 all-camo and
Timberland aesthetic made them one of
the fi rst hip-hop groups to bring the 6-Inch
to the rap scene. And when the Wu-Tang
Clan co-opted that look shortly after, the
Timberland went properly supernova.
Suddenly the 6-Inch was the ultimate sign
of street-level authenticity. Tupac, DMX and
Mobb Deep were enthusiasts, as was Jay-Z;
in 1995 he was supposedly purchasing
a new pair every week. In 1997, Biggie
immortalised the moment in ‘Hypnotize’,
when he rapped about “Timbs for my
hooligans in Brooklyn”. Super producer
Timbaland was, well, you get the idea.And what the legends were wearing,
the fans were buying. Within a few years,
the boot was such a phenomenon that it
was being worn on fashion runways and
stocked in luxury stores. Collaborations
with high-end fashion labels soon followed.
But as the boots notch up their 45th
anniversary, Timberland is going back
to basics. To mark the occasion, they’re
releasing a newly remixed 6-Inch model,
alongside a pull-on version, both featuring
sapphire highlights – because that’s how
you celebrate 45 years. Truth be told, the
differences are only there if you know what
to look for, but that seems fi tting for a boot
that in its strength and simplicity of design
somehow became all things to all people. •Above
Kejuan Muchita, better known
as Havoc from hip-hop duo
Mobb Deep, was one of the
6-Inch’s early proponents.
He sported a pair on the back
cover of the outfit’s seminal
1995 album The Infamous.
A GOOD RAP
HOW A PAIR OF HEAV Y-DUTY
WORKER’S BOOTS BECAME HIP-HOP’S
MOST UNLIKELY STATUS SYMBOL.
Writer Luke Ryan
Illustrator Ludwin Schouten