Finding the perfect gift is easy when you have friends and family on your list who like to pair adventure with classic, outdoor fashion. Since its debut in 1973, Timberland鈥檚 iconic waterproof yellow boots have been a go-to for hardworking and hard-hiking individuals alike, thanks to their rugged but timeless aesthetic.

This holiday season, Timberland has made it extra easy to give the gift of weather-ready style and function, whether you’re looking for high-quality warmwear, comfortable sneakers, or town-to-trail boots. Here are five surefire picks.

Women鈥檚 Anorak Jacket

Pulling off an oversized look is an art, but Timberland鈥檚 makes it look like a cinch. Its fit not only looks great over whatever you layer underneath鈥攁 flannel button up, merino wool layer, or a chunky sweater鈥攂ut it also keeps you plenty warm as temperatures drop. The coat is 100 percent nylon and water-repellent, making it breathable and functional in all conditions. Plus, the insulation is made from environmentally-responsible recycled polyester.

The Anorak Jacket incorporates a convenient kangaroo pocket and three-snap closure on the front, mimicking and melding a couple of classic looks鈥攁 cozy sweatshirt and the ever-popular three-quarter zip. Available in three heritage colors鈥攚hite, black, and dark rose鈥攖his coat easily alternates from a hike to happy hour.

Women鈥檚 Motion Access Mid Lace-Up Waterproof Hiking Boot

The shoe-boot is a hot topic among style-watchers for fall and winter. While much more boot than shoe, this fits the same demand for a functional, yet stylish, look. Just like the Anorak Jacket, it鈥檚 perfect to pair with your wide-legged corduroys to catch up with friends over a hot toddy or with your best waterproof pieces for a snowy day-hike.

This boot incorporates sustainable attributes like a fabric lining from 50 percent recycled plastic for breathability and comfort. Like all of Timberland鈥檚 leather, these boots support the responsible processing of leather through Timberland鈥檚 involvement with the Leather Working Group, a community that supports and encourages responsible leather production.

Men鈥檚 Benton Waterproof 3-in-1 Jacket

Remember the detachable fleece liners from your childhood? Timberland gives them a nod and an update with a better-than-before design. Timberland鈥檚 offers extra warmth with its removable fleece inner and outstanding waterproofing with fully sealed seams. Thanks to the DWR coating, the water droplets just roll right off. As the name suggests, this jacket gives you three versatile style options. On chilly days, zip together the waterproof outer and fleece. During more mild weather, you might separate the two, sporting only the fleece or shell.

With a Timberland logo on the left breast pocket and an embroidered tree in the center back, the Benton Jacket鈥攁vailable in black and a warm tan referred to as chocolate chip鈥攊s going to look great over whatever you鈥檙e wearing and with pretty much any pant or shoe (especially the Timberland low sneaker and waterproof hiking boot).

Men鈥檚 Mt. Maddsen Mid Lace-Up Waterproof Hiking Boot

Now these are no boot-shoes鈥攖hese are all boot. Designed with mountains in mind, the has some key features to keep you out on the trails. A fully gusseted tongue keeps debris out, and the TimberDry waterproof membrane keeps your feet shielded in rain and snow. And for extra鈥攁nd crucially important鈥攃omfort, an anti-fatigue footbed and compression-molded EVA midsole provide responsive cushioning no matter how technical the trail gets. The fabric lining is made from 50 percent recycled PET and a rubber lug outsole wraps into some rugged grip underneath the boot.

Even with all the trail-ready tech, these boots鈥攐ffered in black and beige鈥攚in major style-points. Pair them with the , and you鈥檝e nailed the effortless mountain town look.

Men鈥檚 Motion Access Low Lace-Up Sneaker

On the days when you’re strolling pavement in lieu of the trails, Timberland鈥檚 is the right choice. It鈥檚 got its own comfort features and a TimberGrip lug outsole designed for superior traction. The upper is made from premium, responsibly-made leather and ReBOLT fabric, which is made with at least 50 percent recycled plastic.

The sneaker鈥檚 low-cut design gives you a comfortable range of motion, and the sneaker comes with a removable, contoured sockliner. With a collection of two-tone designs ranging from a vibrant grey with orange to a clean taupe with white, you鈥檙e guaranteed to find something that fits your palate preference.

Since 1973, focus on iconic style, eco-conscious innovation and outdoor performance has resulted in boots, clothing and outerwear built for bold adventures and hard work. Our products empower you to take anything on鈥攚hether you’re going hiking, exploring the city or clocking in with ultra-durable Timberland PRO庐 workwear.

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Colorado-based VF Corporation announced in an internal email yesterday that, beginning January 1 of next year, the company will require all office-based U.S. employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Affected employees who do not secure an approved exemption by January 31 will be terminated without severance, according to a company official.

“Associates who are unable to receive a vaccine due to a medical reason, sincerely held religious belief, or other exemption provided by state or local law can request an accommodation/exemption,” wrote VF senior director of corporate affairs Colin Wheeler in an email to OBJ today. “If any associate does not have proof of an accommodation by January 1, they will be prevented from accessing our facilities and will be required to work from home, while they consult with their manager on next steps. If by January 31, they have not received an approved accommodation, they will be separated from the company and will not receive severance.”

Wheeler emphasized that the new rule affects only office-based U.S. employees for now. The company plans to roll out the next phase of its vaccine requirements for other U.S. associates in the spring.

“Given differences in local and national regulations, our EMEA [Europe, Middle East, and Africa] and APAC [Asia-Pacific] regions will continue to determine the most effective ways to ensure the health and safety of our associates in those regions,” Wheeler said. “As such, they are not subject to this new requirement.”

So far, employee response to the new regulation has been “relatively quiet,” according to the company. VF said that it hopes the advance notice of the new rule, coupled with transparency at the corporate decision-making level, will give all employees “the opportunity to make plans that are right for them.”

VF declined to specify how many employees are affected by the mandate.

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As of October 2020, Instagram registered over a billion unique monthly users. If a picture truly is worth a thousand words, then a wide-reaching Instagram account is鈥攚ell, it鈥檚 valuable. But how can outdoor companies make the most of an audience waiting on the other end of a screen?

We examined and chatted with some of the biggest outdoor brands on the photo-sharing platform to find out what works for them.

GoPro (@gopro)

Follower count: 17.7 million

Date joined: March 22, 2012

Total posts: 6,120

Account Overview

When it comes to outdoor brands on Instagram, GoPro easily leads the pack. Almost four times more users follow GoPro than other brands like The North Face and Patagonia. The company keeps its users engaged, too鈥攙ideos on GoPro鈥檚 page regularly notch hundreds of thousands of views, and photos generally amass close to one hundred thousand likes, outperforming brands with similar follower counts like Starbucks and Calvin Klein. GoPro generally posts on the account twice a day, with posts spaced apart by several hours.

Useful Strategies

There鈥檚 one thing you won鈥檛 see on GoPro鈥檚 Instagram: Any of the company鈥檚 products. Rather than focusing on the cameras themselves, the page highlights what鈥檚 in front of them, posting everything from skiing backflips to scuba dives to airplane stunts. GoPro saves the flashy product photos for its website, but on Instagram, the brand sells experiences鈥攅xperiences their cameras can document.

The North Face (@thenorthface)

Follower count: 4.8 million

Date joined: February 14, 2011

Total posts: 427

Account Overview

The majority of The North Face鈥檚 Instagram posts can be broken into two categories: product-focused and athlete-focused. The brand鈥檚 product-focused posts look like a classic advertisement: The product and TNF logo are front and center. Captions for these posts tell users what the product is, how it works, and where they can get one. Athlete-focused posts feature partnered athletes in action, and don鈥檛 stress as much about brand recognition鈥攊n most of these posts, it鈥檚 tough to tell whether the athlete is even wearing TNF gear. The account posts three to four times a week, and mixes up video and photo content.

Useful Strategies

Senior director of digital brand management Zeena Koda says the alternation between product advertisement and 鈥渂rand content鈥濃�攁thletes, outdoor images, and storytelling鈥攊s intentional. In fact, while it鈥檚 not an exact science, Koda has a rough benchmark for the breakdown.

鈥淚 think a 60-40 balance is healthy, but it鈥檚 never that clear-cut,鈥� Koda said. Her goal is to feature 鈥渂rand content鈥� in about 60 percent of TNF鈥檚 posts, while the other 40 percent highlights specific TNF products.

Patagonia (@patagonia)

Follower count: 4.6 million

Date joined: May 17, 2012

Total posts: 2,757

Account Overview

Like TNF, Patagonia posts content three to four times per week. The page is extremely photo-heavy, and video content generally involves some sort of call to action. Patagonia also posts a significant number of call-to-action graphics highlighting the climate crisis and environmental justice.

Useful Strategies

Patagonia鈥檚 Instagram bio simply reads, 鈥淲e鈥檙e in business to save our home planet.鈥� The philosophy is evident in the brand鈥檚 posts, which tend to focus on sweeping natural landscapes. If humans are in Patagonia鈥檚 posts, they鈥檙e often small or far away, framing the outdoors as a space commanding awe, wonder, and respect. True product advertisements are rare on Patagonia鈥檚 Instagram鈥攅ven Patagonia鈥檚 well-known logo barely makes an appearance on the page.

Timberland (@timberland)

Follower count: 3 million

Date joined: June 23, 2011

Total posts: 3,671

Account Overview

There may not be a more direct opposite to Patagonia鈥檚 Instagram page than Timberland鈥檚. Timberland鈥檚 Instagram is about one thing: boots. Boots on models, boots floating in mid-air, boots in boxes. Name a way to display a Timberland boot and it鈥檚 probably on the company鈥檚 Instagram. Posts come like clockwork鈥攅xactly one post a day, usually hitting the profile by mid-morning.

Useful Strategies

鈥淲e want people to arrive at our social media pages and see what they love [our products], but also learn about what we stand for,鈥� senior director of marketing Mike Isabella said in a statement.

Timberland does feature a number of social-justice-focused graphics on its page, but products drive the majority of the brand鈥檚 content. It鈥檚 a strategy that seems to work, in terms of engagement. When the boots take up nearly the entire frame, posts regularly hit tens of thousands of likes, and posts that feature models鈥� full bodies or otherwise draw away from the boots generally struggle to crack ten thousand likes.

Tentree (@tentree)

Follower count: 2.4 million

Date joined: March 30, 2012

Total posts: 568

Account Overview

The eco-focused apparel brand has a unique distinction as the only company on this list younger than Instagram. Like The North Face, tentree uses Instagram partially as an advertising venue鈥攖he page displays models wearing products from sweatpants to face masks. The rest of the account鈥檚 posts feature landscape shots and deforestation-awareness graphics similar to TNF鈥檚 鈥榖rand content.鈥�

Useful Strategies

In terms of engagement, tentree鈥檚 nature-focused content significantly outperforms product advertisement on the page. Posts like this one depicting a glass-walled forest bedroom amass likes in the tens of thousands, while product-focused posts usually top out at several thousand.

REI (@rei)

Follower count: 2.3 million

Date joined: July 30, 2012

Total posts: 4,791

Account Overview

REI鈥檚 Instagram feed is all about people in the outdoors. This may not seem revolutionary for one of the country鈥檚 largest outdoor retailers, but as other brands have opted for product-focused posts or landscape photos without people, most of REI鈥檚 posts bring humans and natural spaces together. These posts generally perform well, usually reaching five-digit like counts. REI鈥檚 less frequent, landscape-only posts perform similarly, while the account鈥檚 few product advertisement posts hover around five thousand likes.

Useful Strategies

There鈥檚 a not-so-secret weapon at play in boosting engagement on certain REI posts. Every so often, REI will caption a photo with a question, like 鈥淲hy do you hike?鈥� or 鈥淲hat are some of your silver linings from 2020?鈥� Posts with a simple question in the caption drive hundreds of people to the comments section; by comparison, most other posts see between 30 and 50 comments. Questions boost likes, too鈥攑osts captioned with questions generally rack up thousands more likes than similar posts without questions.

Oakley (@oakley)

Follower count: 2.2 million

Date joined: January 19, 2012

Total posts: 184

Account Overview

Like Timberland, Oakley鈥檚 Instagram page is dominated by product-focused posts. Goggles and sunglasses are always the focal point, and while accounts like Patagonia and TNF place their products against a natural backdrop, Oakley鈥檚 posts are mainly close-up facial profiles. The eyewear brand is one of the least prolific posters on this list, uploading content at most three times a week.

Useful Strategies

Rather than models, Oakley leans heavily on the allure of professional athletes wearing its products to boost engagement鈥攁thletes like cricketer Rohit Sharma, the focus of three posts that each cracked one million likes. It certainly helps that Oakley is partnered with the NFL, and superstar players like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson are featured prominently on the page. NFL-related posts often rack up hundreds of thousands of likes, a massive engagement number for an account with just over two million followers. Non-NFL athletes help engagement numbers, too: Snowboarder Jamie Anderson and other snowsports pros appear in several well-performing posts.

YETI (@yeti)

Follower count: 1.5 million

Date joined: July 20, 2012

Total posts: 2,413

Account Overview

Like many of the outdoor apparel and gear brands on this list, YETI鈥檚 Instagram posts focus on its products in use. In terms of engagement, most of YETI鈥檚 posts perform similarly, hovering around six to nine thousand likes. The account doesn鈥檛 flood the timeline with posts, sending an image or video out roughly once a day.

Useful Strategies

When it comes to product advertisement, YETI鈥檚 posts are reminiscent of product placement in a movie or TV show. Posts don鈥檛 advertise a specific product like The North Face鈥檚 do; instead, most posts focus on a larger scene鈥攁n ice fishing trip, a duck hunt, a day at the beach鈥攚ith a YETI product included and prominently displayed. The YETI logo catches the eye in almost every post, but rather than advertise a specific cooler, say, posts advertise YETI as a brand.

Salomon (@salomon)

Follower count: 933k

Date joined: July 24, 2013

Total posts: 2,270

Account Overview

Salomon鈥檚 Instagram focuses heavily on the company鈥檚 two best-known product lines: skis and running shoes. The page is image-heavy, generally using video content to profile featured athletes. Likes are generally consistent between five and ten thousand, and the account generally posts once per day.

Useful Strategies

Salomon鈥檚 page is one of the most product-focused on this list鈥攚hether on ski tips, shoe tongues, or bindings, the Salomon logo is visible in nearly every post. Most products are identified in the caption for consumers to find them easily, and almost all are depicted in action.

Arc鈥檛eryx (@arcteryx)

Follower count: 932k

Date joined: February 7, 2012

Total posts: 2,801

Account Overview

Arc鈥檛eryx, similar to brands like TNF and tentree, posts a mix of product advertisement and athlete-driven content. Engagement patterns for Arc鈥檛eryx鈥檚 content are opposite these other brands, though鈥擜rc鈥檛eryx鈥檚 product advertisement posts generally outperform landscape shots and athlete profiles by a few thousand likes or more. The account posts about once a day, and generally alternates posts between its content categories.

Useful Strategies

Like many of the brands on this list, Arc鈥檛eryx runs secondary, geographically-localized Instagram accounts alongside its main account, which director of brand experience Jurgen Watts credits with expanding the brand鈥檚 social media reach.

鈥淥ur strategy as a company is to develop鈥� localized Instagram channels for our communities,鈥� Watts said. 鈥淚f you live in the Bay Area, we want to make sure that there鈥檚 a Bay Area feed that is very localized.鈥�

Compared to Arc鈥檛eryx鈥檚 main Instagram channel, these localized accounts have significantly lower follower counts鈥攇enerally not more than a few thousand followers. Some posts from Arc鈥檛eryx鈥檚 main feed will show up in these smaller channels, but posts also feature athletes wearing Arc鈥檛eryx gear in recognizable local spots.

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VF Corporation, the parent company of Smartwool, Timberland, and聽The North Face, announced today that it has signed聽a definitive merger agreement to acquire the direct-to-consumer streetwear company Supreme. The deal is set to be completed before the end of the year.

Supreme, which sells apparel, accessories, and footwear, is no stranger to the outdoor industry. The brand has聽collaborated for years聽with Timberland and The North Face; its latest crossover project is a new聽TNF jacket collection聽for fall 2020. Well known for its direct-to-consumer digital presence, the company will bolster VF’s efforts to transition to a more digital-first business model, according to a statement released today.

“The Supreme brand will further accelerate VF鈥檚 hyper-digital business model transformation,” said VF CEO Steve Rendle. “VF is the ideal steward to honor the authentic heritage of this cultural lifestyle brand while providing the opportunity to leverage our scale and expertise to enable sustainable long-term growth.”

James Jebbia, Supreme’s founder, said of the merger, “We are proud to join VF, a world-class company that is home to great brands we鈥檝e worked with for years. This partnership will maintain our unique culture and independence, while allowing us to grow on the same path we鈥檝e been on since 1994.鈥�

In its announcement, VF says that Supreme “offers a $1 billion global opportunity over time through international and direct-to-consumer expansion, core pillars of VF鈥檚 2024 strategy.” The new brand is expected to contribute at least $500 million in revenue to VF by 2022.

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VF Corporation聽released its 2020 Inclusion and Diversity Annual Profile聽to the public in recent days, providing an in-depth look at the company鈥檚 global efforts to create a highly inclusive culture that celebrates the diversity among its 50,000 employees.

The report鈥攖he first disseminated to a public audience鈥攃ommunicates some encouraging numbers. According to the data,聽55 percent of VF’s U.S. workforce is composed of BIPOC employees (Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color), up 7 percent since the company started tracking the statistic in 2015. Also impressive is the report’s confirmation that 57 percent of new VF hires in the last year were BIPOC individuals.

According to Reggie Miller, VP of global inclusion and diversity, the company鈥檚 emphasis to drive these efforts began in earnest five years ago. VF hired Miller to improve diversity practices in May 2017, and one of the first things he did was establish an executive inclusion and diversity council of leaders from each of the VF brands鈥攊ncluding The North Face, Icebreaker, Smartwool, JanSport, Altra, Timberland, and 12 others鈥攖hat meets quarterly. The group is headed by VF chief executive聽Steve Rendle.

We connected with Miller for an exclusive Zoom interview about what鈥檚 behind VF鈥檚 report, the key takeaways, and how VF hopes to drive change around inclusion, diversity, and belonging throughout the outdoor industry.

First, is this the first inclusion and diversity report VF has done?

No, we’ve done them it internally before. But this is the first time that we posted it externally on our website and have it available for anyone to look at. It’s the next stage in our journey towards complete transparency and it helps drive accountability for us as a company.

Why is it important for VF to put out this report?

For one thing, we wanted to showcase our journey through these efforts. We’ve been working on this for five years, and along the way, we鈥檝e done things that we’re very proud of and we’ve made mistakes. We’ve progressed in some ways and not enough in other areas. This report allows us to be really, really transparent and accountable, not only to our employees but also for the entire industry.

We’re typically a company that will let our actions speak for themselves. I think this is a perfect example of that. The things you see in this report encompass one fiscal year and speak to how we’ve grown over time to be able to get here. Five years ago, we couldn’t put out a report like this. But we want to be able to showcase to other companies that we’re not perfect. We know we still have a lot of work to do, but we wanted to take a moment to celebrate where we’re at.

Can you tell us what happened internally at the company after the murder of George Floyd?

We quickly held a meeting of the executive inclusion and diversity council. We knew that we had made progress around people of color, but that we had to do better. We needed to accelerate our work to really drive the BIPOC population in leadership positions within the company.

Steve Rendle issued a statement first to our employees and then to the public linking racism to the current pandemic. Next, we said to our employees, 鈥淲e know that you’re hurting right now. What can we do to help?” The following week we held a company-wide Zoom call with ten minutes of silence for George, Ahmaud, and Breonna, and all the others who have lost their lives. It was a very emotional ten minutes. Then the leadership team hosted a series of listening sessions, and people were raw, frank, hurt, sad, and fearful for their kids. One session was called 鈥淎llyship to Advacocy鈥� and over 7,000 employees attended. I feel like we really came together as a company. From there, we created an internal council to advance racial equity, headed by 15 leaders, primarily BIPOC individuals. We’re really serious about being part of the solution.

We all saw the rush to make anti-racist statements back in late May and early June. We were very purposeful. It can’t just be about an Instagram post; it can’t just be about an announcement. We want to make sure there are actions and initiatives and practices in place. What you’ll continue to see from us, whether it’s through this report or other announcements, is that we invest serious work in these efforts.

We recently wrote about transparency in the summer issue of The Voice鈥攁bout how it鈥檚 important for consumers to be able to trust the brands they support. I assume you agree with that assessment?

Yes. One of the first meetings I had when I joined the company was with our communications team. We mapped out the road to transparency. We knew we had to take steps every single year in order to get to a place where we could be completely transparent. The Inclusion and Diversity Report was on the agenda for us anyway, to accomplish that goal. Its release, this year, just so happened to line up with everything else that’s going on.

Tell me about your Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).

The key to them all is the fact that they’re grassroots efforts. It’s not about my team saying, “Hey, we want an ERG in this location or with this brand.” It all comes from the employees getting together and starting a group. When a group springs up, there is a process they go through. They have executive sponsors, they have a curriculum that they follow, they have communication support. We’re structured around three main groups today鈥攐ne that’s my multicultural, one that’s LGBTQ, and one that鈥檚 gender-focused. There are several chapters, both around the country and around the world within those three main groups.

What kind of impact do ERGs have on the company?

ERGs provide a sense of community for our employees. Whether you’re brand-new to the company, or have been with us for a while, having a place where you can feel welcome, comfortable, and safe, is always a goal for us and ERGs provide that. But they also provide the opportunity for leadership and growth and development. For instance, I may be an individual contributor in my role, but I can go work on an ERG and manage large, cross-functional projects. I think that鈥檚 a real way for us to develop underrepresented groups. I myself am a product of that. I led an African-American ERG during my time at Walmart, and that was when I became convinced that working holistically on inclusion and diversity might be the right career option for me. So I’m a true testament to the power of ERGs.

The report clearly shows that VF has made some incredible strides in its journey to become more diverse and inclusive. What鈥檚 next in terms of strategy and execution?

We know we’re still very early in our journey. There’s a lot left to do to make sure everyone feels included when they’re working at VF. A small- or medium-size company in the outdoor industry might look at a big company like VF and think we have it all figured out. In this space, however we don’t. We’re still learning things every single day.

Our new strategy will guide our actions through 2030. We thought it was important to set that kind of vision because it gives us a north star, and allows us to be adaptable along the way as the market and our employee base changes. We have three aspirational strategic pillars: associates and culture, brands and consumers, and social and societal impact. If we can activate against all three of those pillars in the next ten years, we can have a huge impact on not just the lives of our employees, but on the world.

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