Timberland Unveils Hip-Hop Royalty Boot for Its 50th Anniversary Celebration

In 1973, two influential and very different worlds were created.

In New Hampshire, Timberland crafted its first boot, the Original Timberland Boot. In the Bronx, N.Y., hip-hop was born. Over time, both worlds collided and melded, influencing each other over the course of the subsequent decades until they have today become interlinked. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of both, Timberland announced the newest boot to come from the brand: the Hip-Hop Royalty Boot.

Many different elements of the boot, designed by Chris Dixon, Timberland’s senior footwear designer, advanced concepts & energy, were created with meaning.

The purple upper is a nod to the color’s long-term association with royalty and power, as well as a graffiti mural in the Bronx dedicated to hip-hop’s creator DJ Kool Herc. The gold eyelets and collar, which emulate a crown, bolster the boot’s regal narrative. A green label replicating a New York street sign is visible on the tongue and is printed with ‘Sedgwick Ave.’ — the street address of the house party where hip-hop was born. The gray sole is inspired by New York City’s ‘Concrete Jungle’ moniker. The boot’s laces are modeled on a mic cord aglet and the label on the boot’s hangtag was created to look like DJ turn tables. Finally, the Timberland tree logo has been reinterpreted as a purple graffiti tag.

“Having the opportunity to design in celebration of both boot and hip-hop culture is a huge honor for me,” Dixon said in a statement. “The Hip-Hop Royalty Boot project is Timberland’s way of giving hip-hop its flowers and showing appreciation for what they have done for the brand. I am really happy to partner with Timberland and give young creatives something I did not have as a kid, which is the empowerment of creativity.”

The Timberland Hip-Hop Royalty Boot will be available on Feb. 24 at Timberland.com. The men’s style will retail at $210 and the women’s will be $170.