Timberland Continues to Recognize its Status as an Iconic Hip-Hop Fashion Brand
After paying homage to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop with a Hip Hop Royalty Collection in 2023, Timberland heads into the winter season with the Advice of an Icon campaign, featuring Skepta and Spike Lee.
Skepta in a fashion shoot for Timberland's Advice of an Icon series.
Photo courtesy of Timberland.
Editor's Note: This story was originally published in March 2023 and has been updated to include details about the Timberland fall/winter 2025 collection.
In 2025, Timberland still honors hip-hop’s 50-year legacy, but the Hip Hop Royalty collection has evolved. What started as a limited-edition royal purple boot now includes capsule collaborations, artist partnerships, and next-gen reinterpretations.
The 2025 fall and winter campaign, Advice of an Icon, features collaborations with Spike Lee, Skepta and Kiko Mizuhara. "It’s a tribute to those who embrace authenticity, push creative boundaries, and lead with bold conviction, inspiring others to do the same," the press release reads.
The brand recognized Skepta as an icon "whose influence has always gone beyond music — shaping culture through fashion, art, and self-expression, and taking grime to the world stage."
The brand debuted its Hip Hop Royalty Collection in 2023, featuring limited-edition royal purple 6-inch boots, a matching bucket hat and the original Timberland. The limited-edition boot represented the four pillars of hip-hop – MCing, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti – with additional details to hip-hop's foundation, including a graffiti stencil logo and microphone chord laces. On the tongue of the boots was the Sedgwick Ave. street sign, a nod to hip-hop's birthplace in the Bronx.
Starring in the campaign is rising Brooklyn rapper Lola Brooke, best known for her breakout hit "Don't Play With It."
"Hip Hop has impacted our brand enormously over the past five decades, so we’re proud to present Brooklyn MC, @lola.brooke, who is one of the voices carrying Hip Hop into the next 50 years, in the Timberland Hip Hop Royalty Boot, ” reads a caption from Timberland's Instagram account.
“Having the opportunity to design in celebration of both boot and Hip Hop culture is a huge honor for me,” said senior footwear designer Chris Dixon in 2023. “The Hip Hop Royalty Boot project is Timberland’s way of giving Hip Hop its flowers and showing appreciation for what they have done for the brand. I am really happy to partner with Timberland and give young creatives something I did not have as a kid, which is the empowerment of creativity.”
The original Hip-Hop Royalty Premium 6-inch Waterproof Boots are only available from resellers as of 2025, but Timberland has continued to expand its hip-hop adjacent product line.
In 2024, the brand partnered with the estate of The Notorious B.I.G. for the 30th anniversary of Ready to Die. A New York hip-hop legend, Biggie helped popularize the classic boot as a hip-hop fashion staple. Available in black and wheat, the design featured artwork inspired by the original album cover and lyrics, with shoelaces tipped with aux chords instead of aglets.
