Design Life-Cycle

Robin Watkins

Dr. Cogdell, Alejandra Ruiz

DES 040A

4 June 2024

Sustainability Assessment of The Materials for Timberland’s Original Yellow Boots

Timberland is an outdoor clothing manufacturer and retailer widely recognized around the globe. This corporation is well known for its iconic yellow boots. They are designed to be high quality waterproof boots that are durable enough to handle outdoor work environments. They are widely regarded as comfortable because they are built from high quality materials that provide support for the user’s feet. Initially intended to be a good quality work boot for construction and factory workers, it exploded in popularity in the fashion industry. According to Alysha Webb, Timberland managed to break into the international fashion industry through buying advertisements in popular magazines like the New York Times and adding their stock to fashion stores like Saks Fifth Avenue. Soon after their sales increased from tens of millions to hundreds of millions. When hip-hop artists like Biggie Smalls adopted Timberland into their style and music, sales skyrocketed to over 500 million dollars and eventually surpassed a billion dollars (Webb). Timberland’s yellow boots are made from different materials. The main body and tongue of the boot are both made out of leather. The boot’s shank is made out of steel. Boot shanks are thin bars placed between the footbed and the outsole with the purpose of providing support and rigidity (JK Journal). The boot has built in insulation made out of this material called Primaloft. Primaloft is made out of polyester fibers that are bonded together with a binding agent (Aphrodite). Primaloft said the polyester fibers are made out of recycled plastic water bottles. Some portion of the boot is also made out of their “ReBOTL” material, which is a fabric partly made with polyethylene fibers made from plastic bottles (Timberland; Everyday Recycler). Timberland did not specify which part of the boot is made out of "ReBOTL"; since it is a type of fabric, a good guess would be that it is used with soft leather to make the boot's linings. The rubber outsoles are made out of a mixture of synthetic, natural and recycled rubbers. They also replace some portions of their petroleum based processing oils with vegetable based ones (Timberland). The natural rubber they use is latex (Timberland). However I was not able to find out what mixture they use to make synthetic rubbers for the outsoles. All of the finished materials are assembled together in factories. As seen in a list of factories provided from Timberland, a majority of those factories are from overseas. I was not able to find out how Timberland ships the boots internationally to their retail stores or warehouses. The vast majority of textile shipping on a global scale is done by ocean freight (Baxter). Ocean freight is usually done by ships fueled by bunker fuel (Baxter). Bunker fuel usually refers to diesel or marine gas oil (Crown Oil). Also a majority of land shipping is done by freight trucks and rail freight (Freight Center). Both Freight trucks and Freight trains are usually fueled by diesel (Engine Technology Form) Timberland needs to be more consistent in disclosing how the materials they use for their yellow boots are made and recycled. Timberland is very transparent about some aspects of the processes they use to source the materials, but at other times, they are very vague. There were also cases where I could not find information on some of their production procedures. Whenever they are unclear or there is a lack of information, it entails bad news because the industry standards of producing the materials they use for their boots are harmful to the environment. Therefore despite Timberland’s iconic yellow boot being made out of materials such as recycled water bottles and leather that came from eco-friendly ranches and tanneries, it can not be considered sustainable. There are flaws in their manufacturing policies, some of the materials probably come from environmentally corrosive processes and they need to expand their recycling efforts.

Starting off with their leather manufacturing Timberland has stated that they source a majority of their hides from cattle raised in the U.S. under USDA guidelines. According to the USDA’s Animal Policy and Regulatory Issues page on their website, their policies focus on regulating Animal Waste, Health and Food safety concerns. Not only that, Timberland has also stated they are sourcing a significant amount of their hides from ranches that practice regenerative ranching. They aim to source all their natural materials from regenerative agriculture by 2030 (Business Wire). According to a study, regenerative ranching is actually effective at reducing emissions created by ranching cattle (Gosnell et al). Timberland also makes sure the tanneries they source their processed leather from is eco-friendly. Timberland stated that they only get processed leather from tanneries that were audited by the Leather Working Group, a non-profit organization focused on sustainability with leather. Among these tanneries, they only source their leathers from the ones that received a silver or gold rating. The facilities audited by the leather working group have varied processes on how they make hides into leather. Tanning usually starts by soaking raw hides in a drum filled with a tanning solution (Shep). A common tanning solution is made with chromium (Royal Smit & Zoon). Then after they are dried with high pressure through the use of rollers (Shep). Possible waste from this process is the leftover tanning solution. The audit done by the Leather Working Group includes the waste and chemical management of the facility. So it can be assumed that the tanning facilities that Timberland contracts practices safe disposal and possible recycling of these tanning solutions. However I was not able to find any statements from Timberland of what kind of slaughterhouse facilities are used for processing the cattle (Håkansson). This is not good because slaughterhouses are known to be major water polluters (Ridlington). According to the Center for Biological Diversity, these facilities are known for using an excessive amount of water and causing outbreaks of diseases in local water supplies. In 2019, the regulation of these facilities were so outdated and poorly enforced that a federal lawsuit was filed against the U.S. environmental protection agency by the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice organization. The gravity of the situation at the time is shown when the Center for Biological Diversity said, “The agency’s [Environmental Protection Agency] own records show three-quarters of industrial-scale slaughter facilities discharging waste into waterways…, dumping as much nitrogen pollution as small cities in some cases”. If any of these facilities were used to get the raw hides needed for the production of Timberland’s boots throughout these years, it would ruin an otherwise sustainable operation for leather. This could very well be the case because the Leather Working Group does not mention slaughter procedures in their guidelines for their audits and Timberland has said nothing on which slaughter facilities they contract (Håkansson). This same pattern of there being a flaw in a node of a sustainable operation is also present in their efforts to use recycled water bottles as a material in their boots.

While marginally better than using virgin plastics there are still potential negative environmental impacts with the current implementation of recycled water bottles in the production of Timberland’s yellow boots (Lorenz). As outlined in their store page Timberland uses fibers made from recycled water bottles and another material called primaloft ,which is also made from recycled water bottles, (Timberland; Primaloft). I was not able to find out how Primaloft and Timberland process these bottles or which processing facilities they use, but how these water bottles are usually recycled is that they are shredded by huge machines to be turned into PVC pellets that can be molded into polyester fibers (Tau). The issue with this operation is that the mechanical process of washing, chopping and shedding these bottles releases a lot of microplastics into the air (Bruggers). According to a medical publication in Sciencedirect, plastic particles may pose a threat to the health of humans and other living organisms (Gonzàlez-Acedo et al). Results from controlled experiments show microplastics have a tendency to cause issues like lipid metabolism disorders in rainbow trout, acute lung inflammation in rats and many other issues on different organisms like humans (Gonzàlez-Acedo et al). While exposures done in a lab cannot be considered equivalent to real-life exposure, there is a chance that microplastics can still cause these problems, so there should be efforts done to reduce the amount of microplastics being released from production. Not only that, if the boot itself is not recycled then all this operation is doing is turning water bottle waste into a different form of waste that can still end up polluting the environment. The problem is that reusing waste like plastic bottles should not be the only focus. There should also be a focus on reusing the already made materials of the boots and making product care more accessible.

Timberland’s recycling undertaking they called “Timberloop '' has some serious flaws. Timberloop was marketed as this recycling effort done by Timberland where they allow customers to give their old timberland products for a 20% discount. In a marketing video made by Timberland they stated once they receive these old products they will either refurbish them or they will take them apart so the materials can be reused. This seemed like a great thing for Timberland to do, but on Reddit a customer has complained that the return form is impossible to find (Prestigious-Data-321). Also in 2023, another person on Reddit pointed out the website for Timberloop was not working anymore (cudlmnstr). Right now the Timberloop link on the Timberland website just leads you to a store finder. Right now it seems that the preferred way to return old products is to go into a Timberland retail store in person, however in their terms of service it says customers can only return their old products for recycling in stores located in the U.S. and have to be U.S. residents. This is unfortunate because Timberland has retail stores and customers outside of the U.S. One might argue that the Timberland boots should last a lifetime, if taken care of properly by the customer. As seen on their website Timberland does offer a plethora of boot care products that should help increase the longevity of their boots. According to their Product Care FAQ, all of their protectors, conditioners, cleaners and creams are water based which makes them eco-friendly. They also said their packaging is recyclable and they avoid the use of PVC plastics. The key issue here is that none of these products are included with the purchase of the boot. This means it’s not a guarantee that their customers will practice product care. Timberland needs to put more effort in recycling their boots, reusing its materials and making product care more accessible. Besides “Timberloop” I was not able to find other recycling efforts being made by Timberland. There was also a lack of information on some of the production processes used for the other materials of the boots. 

Timberland is vague on how they source the materials needed for the rubber outsole for their boots. I was also not able to find out how exactly they get the steel for the shank of the boots. This does not bode well because the industry standards for Steel and rubber production are harmful for the environment (Norgate et al;Otten et al). In a study done by Jahanshahi and Rankin, they said that the production of metals, including steel, results in the emissions of unwanted solids, liquids and gasses. In this study they also outlined how Steel is usually produced. The creation of Steel involves crushing mined iron ore and then placing them into blast furnaces to be turned into crude iron. Lastly they are either placed in a basic oxygen furnace or an electric furnace. Judging from this outlined process one issue would be emission gasses from the multiple uses of furnaces. Steel production is actually one of the most carbon-intensive manufacturing processes, in 2021 it contributed to 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial sector of the U.S. (Kullman). Kullman adds that these emissions contribute to global warming, leading to disruption of natural environmental processes. As for the outsole, Timberland said they require that at least 10% of the rubber is made from natural rubber and vegetable oil. According to Timberland, the production of natural rubber starts with making incisions on a rubber tree and collecting the latex that flows out. Then after collection they are granulated into small pieces that are pressed into bales. Then these bales get shipped to another manufacturer that presses these rubber bales into the outsole of the boot. On the same webpage they also talk about a manufacturer called Aligerados Padda S.A. de C.V,  that runs a recycled rubber products program. Which implies a portion of the outsoles made for their yellow boots come from recycled rubber. All of this shows that the rubber outsoles of these yellow boots are either made from recycled rubber, all natural rubber or a mixture of synthetic rubber and natural rubber. What is concerning is how Timberland and the manufacturers they contract are vague on their production processes. Timberland does not mention where these rubber plantations are located and what kind of regulations they follow. Even if the rubber is natural, it still can be corrosive to the environment if done irresponsibly. According to an article by Aruna Chandrasekhar, more than 40% of rubber plantations were associated with deforestation in Cambodia. The industry standard of synthetic rubber production is also corrosive to the environment. According to a video by the Science Channel, the production of synthetic rubber starts with a mixture of a petroleum based liquid like butadiene and a solvent called hexane. They first boil these ingredients to purify them. Then they add a catalyst to start a chemical reaction so the mixture undergoes a chemical change. The mixture then becomes synthetic rubber in liquid form. The next step is to turn the liquid synthetic rubber into solid crumbs by using a big coagulation unit where the liquid rubber is mixed with water and a solvent mixture. They then boil off the solvent. After that they run this mixture of water and rubber crumbs into various heavy-duty machines and conveyor belts to remove as much moisture as possible. They then press together the rubber crumbs into big blocks of rubber with a heavy-duty machine called a baler machine. Synthetic rubber production processes such as this are responsible for the release of a lot of harmful gasses into the air and water pollution that harms both humans and marine wildlife (Premium Flip Flops).

All in all, Timberland’s yellow boots are not sustainable because there are flaws in their eco-friendly operations and some of their materials have a high probability of coming from manufacturing processes that harm the environment. All of this is made worse by how little effort Timberland is putting in recycling their products. Despite Timberland seeming to be forward with their sustainability, there are a lot of gaps of information on how they source their materials. Timberland being vague on this or manufacturing information being hard to find is not a good sign because an overwhelming majority of industry production practices for the materials they use for their boots are harmful to the environment. This brings up the question of how many more fashion companies or companies in general are like this. With them seeming sustainable on the surface level with marketing but when one actually reads and tries to look up the materials there are a lot of gaps of information. 

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Alegria Raya

Dr. Cogdell, Alejandra Ruiz

DES 040A

4 June 2024

Timberland Boots’ Wastes and Emissions

Boots are a versatile piece of footwear, able to combine fashion with functionality. Timberland is known for its boots, and specializes in creating shoes of three categories: “work, life, and outdoors.” The shoes featured on Timberland’s “about” section on its website correspond to such categories; the “Original” yellow boot is suited for work, a moccasin for casual wear, and a hiking shoe for the outdoors, all outfitted with rubber outsoles. Rubber, leather, and steel are common materials used in Timberland’s work boots. That incurs a high cost, both monetarily and ecologically. The processes involved in acquiring the direct and indirect raw materials and their usage to manufacture a product is taxing for our planet; though Timberland attempts to mitigate waste with its recycling and regenerative material policies, the wastes and emissions generated by the life cycle of a Timberland boot are plentiful. The energy and materials that go into the production process generates a significant amount of waste and carbon emissions, which undermines Timberland’s attempts to tout recycling as a viable way to end the life cycle of their boots.

In order to create a high quality product, one requires high quality materials. Timberland boasts its use of premium nubuck leather, PrimaLoft insulation, and ReBOTL material in its footwear. In addition to those materials, rubber soles and steel shanks are staples of Timberland’s boots. Despite claiming to use recycled, regenerative, and renewable materials, the overall sustainability of these materials is dubious when considering that these materials are secondary; raw materials have to be acquired and processed prior to usage. In the case of leather, Timberland is partnered with the Leather Working Group, and sources their leather from LWG-approved ranches from United States based farms. LWG rates ranches and tanneries based on their energy use and wastewater output. While leather is a byproduct of the meat industry as a way to upcycle hides and skins, the waste generated as a whole from the industry is significant. Parts of flesh trimmed from the hides and skins of cattle generate solid waste, and the chemicals used in the tanning process contribute to wastewater. According to an UNIDO Leather Panel article, for every 452 kilograms of chemicals added to a ton of wet salted hide, 380 kilograms are not absorbed, which means they go to waste (Jakov and Rajamani). If wastes are not properly treated and disposed of, not only can they pollute water supplies and soil systems, but their decomposition can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Cattle in the meat industry have a guaranteed emission, though: methane. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a single cow can produce up to 264 pounds of methane gas per year. Paired with information from the USDA that as of January 2024, there were 28.2 million beef cows in the United States, it becomes apparent how big of an issue the cattle industry can pose. Timberland does, however, source materials such as cattle hide and cotton from ranches and farms engaging in regenerative practices, such as implementing natural grazing practices for cattle and reducing soil disturbance on cotton farms. The aims of such practices are to reduce the strain put on the environment by agriculture and industry. Those efforts may be in vain, though, considering the amount of methane cows produce.

Timberland emphasizes using recycled materials in their production process, especially in its PrimaLoft insulation and ReBOTL material, the latter being a Timberland patent. Both aforementioned materials recycle plastic bottles to create polyester fibers, which are then used in the production of Timberland footwear, accessories, and apparel. The key chemical in plastic bottles that allows this transformation to happen is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). While the process of using PET bottles to make polyester fabric can emit 75% less greenhouse gas than creating new PET, a major drawback is that once the polyester fabric has been used, it is extremely difficult to recycle once more due to it usually being blended with other types of fabric. Not only that, but because polyester is made from plastic, it is not biodegradable, which contributes to pollution and waste accumulation in landfills. Polyester products also release microfibers, which further pollute air and water supplies. 

Another material Timberland recycles is rubber from car tires. According to Timberland themselves, the soles of their shoes contain 33% recycled vulcanized tire rubber. The vulcanization process adds curatives—typically peroxides and sulfur—to rubber, and heats them to high temperatures so the rubber can be molded. This process creates and strengthens cross-linked polymer chains within the rubber to increase stability and durability. However, that strengthening hinders the disposability of vulcanized rubber by slowing down the biodegradation process. Vulcanized rubber can be devulcanized, which allows the rubber to reenter the production cycle, therefore extending its overall life cycle. The use of heat in both processes, though, not only releases gasses that contribute to atmospheric pollution, but also carcinogens that increase the risk of cancer in factory workers (Huang et al).

As opposed to rubber and plastic, steel is infinitely recyclable. Wastes that come from steel production are increasingly being referred to as byproducts, on account of their reusability in the steel industry and beyond. For example, slag, dust, sludge, and scrap can be reintroduced into the steel production process to cut down on waste. The issue with steel production is the emissions: the steel industry is responsible for a whopping 8% of the world’s total carbon emissions (Bhatnagar et al). Industry as a whole is responsible for 24% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, which makes the steel industry responsible for a third of that. Most of the direct emissions come from fuel combustion and chemical reactions taking place, whereas indirect emissions come from electricity usage. 

Timberland’s parent company, VF Corporation, is partnered with 1,421 facilities as of 2023. In VF Corporation’s 2023 Fiscal Year Report, it is noted that the company’s scope 1 emissions—direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company—was 11,456 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2022. The majority of emissions came from the consumption of natural gas, totaling 33,292 megawatts per hour, and mobile fuel consumption, which totaled 20,852 megawatts per hour. Scope 2 emissions—indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling—totaled 79,877 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The majority of those emissions came from the consumption of electric power. 142,231 megawatts of electricity were consumed per hour in 2022, of which 100,428 was nonrenewable. As for scope 3 emissions—those that came from the rest of the company’s activities—totaled 5,347,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The majority of those scope 3 emissions come from transportation and distribution. VF Corporation’s facilities span across the globe, but the largest number is located in China and other East Asian countries. This means that transportation of materials and products to be distributed makes up a large portion of the product’s life cycle prior to being purchased. Nearly 95% of fuel used for transportation is petroleum-based, which releases carbon dioxide. Across the globe, the combustion of fossil fuels, in all sectors, accounts for nearly 75% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Timberland advertises its Timberloop program as a way to recycle their products by returning them to the company, rather than disposing of them. In this program, customers can return their Timberland products to a store or outlet, and Timberland evaluates the state of the product to see whether or not it can be recycled. If the product is in good condition, it can be disassembled and its materials can be reused. As mentioned earlier, though, several key materials that go into Timberland’s products cannot be easily recycled, such as polyester fibers. While returning the product and putting its materials back into circulation is a better alternative to throwing it away and contributing to waste in landfills, there is a degree of false advertising with the Timberloop program, on account of Timberland’s products not being 100% recyclable. Overall, Timberland’s yellow boot is eco-friendly in some regard, but not fully sustainable once one examines its full life cycle.

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