With the upcoming Black Footwear Forum, I decided to check in on Timberland a VF Corp company, to see if the brand had remained true to their Announcement to Improve Racial Equity within the company:
https://www.vfc.com/news/press-release/1750/vf-corporation-announces-new-programs-and-actions-to
What I found is one of the best stories of the year in the sneaker industry. The company has rolled out one of the coolest youth development programs with Chris Dixon. Dixon was the Pensole World Champion and is one of the best designers in the industry. Timberland hired CD and helped to roll out his product development and design program Constant Development. Timberland also partnered with Pensole on the Divercity x Design program: https://www.vfc.com/news/featured-story/103027/divercity-x-design-apprentices-recap-their-year-long-journey-at-vf
The program was a yearlong apprenticeship allowing 5 students to work at Vans, Timberland and The North Face. The 5 students were also hired by Timberland. This video is a celebration of change happening in real time. Kudos to Timberland for doing the important work.
Constant Development: https://cnstntdvlpmnt.com/
Timberland: https://www.timberland.com/
