Timberland launches Europe-wide youth eco campaign, focuses on communities

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 12, 2021

Outdoor brand Timberland has launched a new Europe-wide campaign featuring “four leading advocates to champion communities and create a better future”.

Called My Community our Nature, it’s part of the brand’s largest ever global campaign, dubbed Nature Needs Heroes.

The company said it’s “on a mission to equip and inspire a new generation to move the world forward” and so has linked up with “four cultural leaders from the UK, France, Germany and Italy who will spearhead community-led projects, investing in urban greening and local talent”.

The campaign will culminate in a public vote to decide which of the projects will benefit from a large-scale community and urban greening transformation next spring.

In the UK, South London singer-songwriter and rising star Joy Crookes is collaborating with Timberland and InSpire Youth Club, St Peter’s Church, Elephant & Castle. Following a series of workshops for young people, a creativity garden to drive engagement with nature and support mental health will be “brought to life in a lasting legacy for creative youths to continue to benefit from in years to come”.

In Germany, Timberland has teamed up with artist and presenter Aisha Vibes to bring together people aged 13 to 21 from multicultural backgrounds and ethnicities. She and the company are connecting with The Corner, a youth centre in Berlin and “aim to unite teens and young adults through music, dance and greening projects”. There will be workshops for singing, rapping, dancing and songwriting and for the final show, there’ll be an outdoor stage using natural materials, plants and greenery, which will then be used as a long-term educational project for the kids.

Next, Italian writer, journalist and music-industry executive Antonio Dikele Distefano is committed to redeveloping non-profit amateur sports association St Ambroeus FC based at ‘Fair Play Arena’ Centro Sportivo Cameroni. In Milan, Timberland “will bring Antonio back to his community, visiting and participating in the rebirth of the Sports Centre, promoting racial integration and creating a green culture and green outdoor space to be enjoyed for parties, events, entertainment and the community”.

And in France, Jeny Bsg, a professional dancer and choreographer, champions her Congolese roots through dance. With Timberland, she’ll be launching a dance programme for youth in the suburbs of Paris, “intertwining education of nature and how to protect it, with African dance”. The students will plant seeds and maintain responsibility for them as they grow at every dance class. The connection with Congo “will be sustained through a penpal scheme and culminate in a trip to Congo to unite the entire experience”.

The company also said each ambassador will be wearing GreenStride boots with soles that “are one of the most eco-conscious and comfortable soles Timberland has ever invented”. They use renewable natural sugar cane and rubber from trees. 

And this season, for every pair of Ray City and Originals Ultra boots sold, Timberland will donate £5/€5 towards the winning project.