Discovering the new "Timberland® Construct: 10061" with Daniel Bailey

The Timberland Boots are not simply shoes designed many years ago and still in vogue among the new generations, they are symbols of time and culture, they are the object on which we have to reflect to find the key of tomorrow, a success started 46 years ago that isn't goint to stop. Precisely for this reason, in 2018 Timberland® Construct: 10061 was born, a project that saw the Global Innovation Center of Timberland, ConceptKicks (London-based design studio) and creative agency KesselsKramer collaborating together to rethink the production process of the classic boot. Some of the most famous silhouette of the brand - including the iconic Yellow Boots - have in fact been revolutionized, colored, decomposed and stitched up according to the creative imagination of the 7 designers involved. In this way, each of them merged their touch with the historicity of the brand without obscuring the implicit iconicity of the boots, of the tracking shoes, of Timberland.

A journey that saw its pioneers start from the Dominican Republic, from the Timberland factories, where artisans and creatives were confronted to review together the meaning of this model for the younger generations, and then reached Milan, at White Street Market. Here are presented some of the 24 prototypes made by the 7 designers involved in the project, including Daniel Bailey, founder of ConceptKicks, who, together with the designer Helen Kirkum, was able to tell the Milan event the idea behind Timberland® Construct: 10061. During the WSM, the second call to action on Instagram was launched: all the designers interested will take part in the second trip submiting their ideas to the organizers through the hashtag #construct10061 and #construct10061internship until next February 13th.

Waiting to see some of the Timberland prototypes available, we had a chat with Daniel Bailey, find out what he told us.

1)Through this project, Timberland® Construct: 10061, you are planning to share and spread the Timberland boot culture to new generations. How did it all start?

Timberland reached out to me around mid-way through last year about the possibility of doing something together, a way to get the design community engaged with the brand. With Concept Kicks being both a design studio, as well as a highly curated footwear design inspiration platform, we thought it would be really refreshing to fully lift the lid on the design and development process and to curate a small group of highly skilled and creative independent footwear designers, artists and material innovators and work hand-in-hand with Timberland’s designers and boot makers at their Dominican Republic factory to re-think Timberland boots utilizing some of their latest sustainable material innovations.

2)The Timberland Yellow Boots have always had a very strong connection with the world of music, especially with hip-hop. So how do you imagine aesthetically the Yellow Boot of today's hip-hop?

I think the Yellow Boot is an iconic style that will continue to stand the test of time as it is. I do think though, that as materials and construction techniques continue to evolve at a rapid rate it does bring some interesting adaptations and twists that we can potentially and eloquently apply to that iconic silhouette. Whether that be with Timberland’s new sustainable material innovations, applying knit in certain areas that need more cushioning, or utilizing their recycled leather option to make a boot that reduces leather waste significantly. I think this project is about seeing how we can re-engineer, re-design and have fun on such an iconic style, but I don’t envision replacing the Yellow Boot at all - more so bringing some different, thought-provoking options - who knows where that could potentially lead, we may end up creating a collection of wild concepts that end up inspiring and trickling down to other boots in the brand, or.. perhaps create an entirely new icon, who knows.

3)How was the experience at White Street Market?

White Street Market was refreshing, it was well spaced and had some super intriguing artists and talks. Showing love to upcoming artists and designers and giving them a platform to showcase their work is always something I admire. It was also the first time we showed the prototypes to people in real life, so it was interesting to see peoples reaction.

4)Can you tell us about Concept Kicks. In your opinion is the art of designing footwear gaining always a growing attention, above all on Instagram? 

Concept Kicks is two things, it’s both a London based Footwear Design studio, where we’ve partnered/worked with brands like Nike, The North Face and Supreme in the past, though we mainly focus on collaborations (like CONSTRUCT:10061) and in-house projects these days. The website and Instagram are used as a way to share footwear design inspiration from what I would consider to be some of the most inspiring and creative footwear designers/artists/projects from all corners of the globe. Instagram just happens to be the perfect vessel for sharing quick espresso style shots of Inso, and the website’s there for people that are looking to dig a little deeper.