As a hereditary shoemaker from Odessa, he founded the brand Timberland

Photo: rusjev.net

Nathan Schwartz - the inventor of the revolutionary technology of manufacturing waterproof shoes, the founder of the famous American brand and shoe empire Timberland.

His story told the project "Museum of Russian-American Heritage".

Nathan Schwartz was born in 1902 in Odessa, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire, into a poor Jewish family of hereditary shoemakers. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather “sharpened boots,” so it is not surprising that Nathan followed in their footsteps.

Shortly before the outbreak of World War I, the family moved to the New World, where Nathan, while still a teenager, began his career as an apprentice in the New York shoe shop.

Little by little he made his way up, saving money, and only in 1952, when he was in his sixth decade, he managed to buy half of a shoe factory in Abington (New York) and founded Timberland. The sons helped him conduct the case.

In 1965, Schwartz, who was looking for a way to make waterproof boots for off-road enthusiasts or those who need similar shoes by occupation / service, invented a way to seamlessly connect a rubber sole to a leather upper using a special press.

"I was then ten years old, - quotes De bosh Jeffrey Schwartz, the current owner of the Timberland brand and grandson of Nathan. - My father was disappearing all the time in the factory, and there was constant talk in the house about how to make Timberland boots waterproof, how to make leather ... That cotton threads do not fit and need nylon, that the seams should be elastic but durable, therefore, they must be made triple. The fact that the rivets, where the laces are inserted, should be metal, but not iron, so that they do not rust from the water ... And then, finally, that historic moment came when my father brought these first Timberland shoes home. And then my brother exclaimed: “I will never wear such a thing. They are yellow! "Solving the urgent production problems, no one even thought about the color ..."

So a new brand called Timberland appeared, which translates as “forest plot”. Thus designated forest land rich in its valuable wood. Therefore, the logo with the image of American oak looks logical, writes Gear shout.

The waterproof property of the new Timberland boots, combined with their unusual yellow color, made them a sales hit and created a reputation for the brand.

According to legend, a certain Italian first bought 900 pairs of shoes and exported them to his homeland. There he demonstrated the goods by smearing them with mud, and then washing off the mud and hanging the shoes to dry on a line - the bright yellow color of the boots made the procedure very impressive! A year later he returned, and Schwartz feared that he had come with the intention of returning unsold goods and taking the money. But worries were dispelled when Schwartz learned that the Italian had arrived for a new batch of shoes.

Thanks to the campaign “If you love Timberland, treat them as badly as possible”, the brand became popular first in Italy and then all over the world.

Today, Timberland is a global company with headquarters in Boston (USA) and a turnover of $ 1,5 billion. The company has more than a thousand retail stores worldwide. Recently, the manufacturer Timberland absorbed some well-known brands: iPatch, Howies, SmartWool, GoLite and Mion. By the way, the old name Abington is not lost. So called one of the collections of shoes.

Abington is one of the shoe collections. Photo: highsnobiety.com

It is led by the grandson of Nathan Schwartz, Geoffrey.

“For me, business is deeply personal. Because Timberland is our family business. My father in the factory could work on any equipment. Even when he had free time, he was pulling a piece of skin in his hands, thinking how to make her quality better. Therefore, we can safely say that a soul has been invested in our business, ”the magazine quotes Jeffrey Schwartz De bosh.

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