Going to Extremes

Timberland’s Outdoor Performance line targets those who go to the extreme in their outdoor endeavors. Since those consumers like to push the boundaries, the brand responds with a product line, brand personality and environmental commitment on par with that extreme side.

For the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market show, Timberland partnered with Southfield, Mich.-based design firm JGA to design a tradeshow booth that exemplified Timberland’s commitment to environmental accountability.

Leveraging the brand’s “nutrition label” concept, whereby Timberland shoeboxes display the environmental and community impact associated with a pair of shoes, the booth uses repurposed objects and planet-friendly [you use environmental a lot] materials to minimize its environmental impact.

The most striking component of this effort is the repurposing of industrial objects, such as the booth’s shipping containers to create the physical selling rooms inside the open-air booth.

Designers also selected materials with a green footprint, including: hemp fabric panels, a natural plant fiber grown without pesticides or herbicides; marmoleum, a biodegradable flooring material; cork, a renewable resource; and Echo Eliminator, a sound-absorbing material made of recycled cotton.

Ninety-eight percent of the booth materials are environmentally conscious, and, at the end of its use, 88 percent of the booth can be recycled.

To share this information with its conscientious consumers, Timberland installed a 3-D nutritional label on the outside of the booth, highlighting the various materials and an environmental “scorecard” for full transparency and accountability.

Client: The Timberland Co., Stratham, N.H. – Bevan Bloemendaal, senior director, global creative services; David Curtis, project lead/senior manager, environments group, global creative services; Jean Wood, fixturing manager, global creative services; Stephen King, senior manager, corporate meetings and events, global creative services; Amy Tauchert, senior manager visual merchandising, global creative services

Design: JGA, Southfield, Mich. – Ken Nisch, chairman, project principal; Gordon Eason, creative director

Exhibit Contractor: Exhibit Works, Livonia, Mich.

Install/Dismantle Contractor/Graphic Manufacturer: Concept 360, Doylestown, Pa.

Floor Tiles: Vibram USA, Concord, Mass.

Tabletop Surfaces: Forbo Flooring, Hazelton, Pa.; Duro Design, Laval, Que.

MDF Wood: Valchromat, Wheeling, Ill.

Parallam Trellis Beams: Stock Lumber, Macomb, Mich.

Recycle Bins: Kettle Creek, Kempton, Pa.

Hemp Curtains and Room Covers: Dock Side, Harrison Township, Mich.

Echo Elliminator Ceiling: Acoustical Surfaces, Chaska, Minn.

Furniture: Emeco, Hanover, Pa.; Bike Furniture Design, Marquette, Mich.

Metal: ASCO, Detroit

Polygal Wall Panels: Laird Plastics, Warren, Mich.

OSB Flakeboard: Commercial Contractors Supply, Livonia, Mich.

Photography: Mark Steele Photography Inc., Columbus, Ohio