The new Fall/Holiday 2016 Converse Counter Climate Boots Collection will launch September 28 at Converse retail stores and Converse.com.
Source: Nike News – Converse Debuts New Counter Climate Boots Collection
While Converse hasn’t really signaled the end of a trend, the fact that you can buy winter ready Converse Chucks, is definitely a sign of disruption and Timberland should be worried. Timberland is owned by VF Corporation. The brand is only a fraction of the portfolio of the corporation, but there has to be some worry in the group because with the approach of Nike in the last year and their consistent launch of Sneakerboots, Nike clearly sees an opportunity to capture the shifting landscape of casual athletic wear and the fact that kids who would typically rock a pair of Timberlands are opting for the Nike Duckboot and other lightweight options.
Now when you analyze VF Corps stock over a 5 year span, the company hit a high of trading at 76 a share, up from the mid 30s just 4 years ago. VF Corp has seen a slide in the last year down to 56/share and this coincides with every sportswear brand encroaching on the winter sportswear area of VF Corp which also owns North Face. See the parallel now?
Converse will undoubtedly appeal to more women for winter wear because the streamlined lightweight flavor of the Converse Counter Climate Boot is an eyecatching and stylish update to the classic Chuck. VF Corp doesn’t have an answer and this year I’m predicting that Timbs will not be the big mover that they are traditionally. Timberland better call the Wu-Tang and hope that people want to really go retro this season because they may have a lot of shoes sitting on shelves this season. Here are a few more Converse Boot pics.
Timberland does have this as an alternative: KILLINGTON 6-INCH BOOTS but I still see a huge disruption from Nike here. http://amzn.to/2dOaH87