Timberland got its name from the iconic yellow work boot introduced more than four decades ago. Nathan Swartz founded the company in South Boston as the Abington Shoe Company, and he set out to create the most premium, durable, waterproof leather boots on the market to help workers withstand the harsh New England winters. Today, the New Hampshire-based footwear manufacturer, retailer, and global lifestyle company has found a place in the fashion world with celebrities and non-celebrities alike. As important, Timberland has also found its place as a model for best practices in corporate social responsibility (CSR). The company's passion for the outdoors, along with its responsibility to stakeholders, plays a major part in Timberland's overall business culture.

At its core, the company is committed to a culture of protecting the very essence of what keeps it in business—the outdoors and the environment. Each of Timberland's strategies demonstrates a synergy between commerce and social responsibility. The company's CSR activities are not limited to a separate department but integrated into all of its business strategies. Timberland focuses its CSR efforts on the three areas of responsible products, community engagement, and resource efficiency.

Maintaining transparency in product manufacturing is integral to Timberland's culture of taking steps to preserve the environment.

Apparel and footwear manufacturing can have a variety of environmental consequences, which include the amount of water used to grow cotton, toxic chemicals used in tanning leather, and large amounts of crude oil and volatile compounds released during the production of synthetic fibers and fabrics. Timberland chooses to use leather tanneries that have wastewater purifying systems as part of their manufacturing process. Timberland collaborates with manufacturers of leather goods in various industries ranging from automobile to apparel to footwear. Together, the companies influence leather tanners to create a standard to monitor their processes in how leather goods are made and sourced.

Protecting the environment is one of Timberland's responsibilities to the general public. The company labels its products with respect to their environmental impact in much the same way that food products contain nutritional information. Through the Sustainable Apparel Coalition and the Outdoor Industry Association, Timberland, along with other footwear and apparel makers, has worked diligently to create awareness through an industry-wide standard of measurement and transparency of the environmental impact of products found in retail outlets. To reduce a product's environmental impact, better raw material choices at the beginning of product design are essential. At the front end, Timberland collaborates with designers and developers by making sure that they choose less environmentally harmful product materials.

Timberland is engaged in a variety of activities to protect the environment. The company is most proud of the advancements made in the use of recycled, renewable, and organic materials such as plastic water bottles and coffee grounds to make its apparel and shoes. A few years ago, the company invested in the planting of 5 million trees in Haiti to create a sustainable business model that provides jobs for their partners there. The result, the Smallholder Farmers Alliance, is a network of community nurseries where planted trees are maintained by 2,000 volunteer farmers in exchange for non–genetically modified seeds and agricultural training to plant and grow crops of their own. Timberland's investment in Haiti has provided a better life for the country's people and a sustainable model that can be replicated and scaled in other farming applications around the world.

To create greater transparency about where products are made, Timberland was one of the first companies to go public with its list of suppliers. Historically, the names of suppliers and their whereabouts have been closely guarded in the ready-made garment industry. With hundreds of thousands of workers involved in the production of its products, Timberland is committed to improving the quality of life for those workers through “responsible product,” which translates to making sure that supplier engagement goes beyond compliance with rules and regulations. In the communities in which it operates, Timberland has provided transportation and housing, along with access to clean drinking water. In addition, the company has opened up daycare centers and provided educational and financial literacy programs for workers. Timberland has found that investing in workers and giving back to the communities in which they live and work translates to better business and higher morale.

Timberland takes community engagement seriously. For 25 years, through its Path of Service program, the company's employees have logged over a million hours to communities where its global employees live and work. Each employee is granted, on an annual basis, the opportunity to engage in up to 40 paid hours of community service. Working side-by-side outside the organizational structure with others throughout the company has proven to be not only an exercise in team building and leadership but also a way to increase morale within the organization.

Resource efficiency targets include reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the use of renewable energy, and reducing waste. The company was recognized with a corporate sustainability award to acknowledge its efforts to partner with a tire manufacturer to use recycled rubber in the soles of Timberland shoes.

Timberland believes that corporate responsibility should not be treated as an add-on to the agenda of a company; rather it should provide the company a powerful competitive advantage. Consumer satisfaction and social well-being are of significant value and part of Timberland's performance assessment.

The next time you consider making a fashion statement with the purchase of a new pair of the iconic yellow boots, you might also consider the trendsetting example Timberland has demonstrated in the realm of corporate social responsibility.

Questions for Critical Thinking

1. Compare and contrast the CSR efforts of three of Timberland's competitors. How do they compare to and/or differ from Timberland's efforts?

2. Discuss Timberland's philosophy that CSR does not have to be an add-on but instead can work as a competitive advantage. Provide three examples of how Timberland's commitment to corporate social responsibility has created a competitive advantage for the company.

3. The Timberland Responsibility website (http://responsibility.timberland.com) is a wealth of information about the company's approach to corporate social responsibility. Evaluate Timberland's most recent CSR report, and expand on some of the company's most recent initiatives. Discuss the company's progress against its targets set around its core areas of corporate social responsibility.