Timberland Blazes A New Trail In Retail

Timberland, the New England-based outdoor
lifestyle brand owned by VF Corporation, has
long been a trailblazer in fashion. Famous for
its iconic yellow boot, designed by
Timberland’s founder Nathan Swartz and
introduced in 1973, Timberland initially
became the work boot of choice for rugged
outdoorsmen (and outdoorswomen in 1984)
and blue-collar workers. Then in the 90s
Timberland boots were adopted by the hip-
hop crowd, and became “the” footwear for
urban hipsters both in the States and across
the globe.
After growing to a global footprint of some
260 stores, including 16 full-priced branded
stores and 41 outlets, Timberland is striking
out to blaze a new trail at retail with two new
initiatives: a “flex retail” concept to pop-up
stores where and when its customers need
them and a new experiential concept store
called TreeLAB.
Early signs are that Timberland is onto
something. It may have discovered a path out
of the impending retail apocalypse. As Ralph
Waldo Emerson said, “Do not go where the
path may lead, go instead where there is no
path and leave a trail.” That is exactly what
Timberland plans to do.
Speaking to the need for retail innovation and
how Timberland is addressing it, Kate Kibler,
Timberland’s vice president of direct-to-
consumer retail, said, “The thing with retail
today is every store shouldn’t be the same.
Every store can’t be the same. This isn’t the
retail of our fathers. This is a new day.”
She stresses that retail concepts need to
continually evolve and Timberland is
answering that need. “A couple of years ago
you created a store design and then rolled that
store designs to 1,000 stores and every store
experience was exactly the same. That can’t
be retail anymore. Look where it’s gotten us?
Retail must factor in specific markets.
Conventional retail wisdom would say let’s do
more of the same and make it successful. That
one-size-fits-all approach is thing of the past,”
she said.
For Timberland flex retail is fast pop-up stores
focused on local market needs
Timberland’s new “flex retail” pop-up concept
launched first in Bloomington, MN Mall of
America as a pop-up store early in September,
followed by locations in Atlanta, Detroit, Long
Island and Quuens, NY. “Our ‘flex retail’
stores are about being fast and light and
being there for the consumer when they need
us,” Kibler explained. “Flexible retail has been
exceeding expectations since opening.”
My book, Shops that POP! 7 Steps to
Extraordinary Retail Success, reveals how to
make shopping an experience for your
customers. Connect via Twitter, LinkedIn ,
Facebook .
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