Thanks for your questions! We began exploring solutions to these challenges last year by offering customers a discount off a new pair of boots if they brought their old boots in for recycling at a Timberland store. The boots were sent to our Dominican Republic factory for re-manufacturing. We saved the leather upper by replacing the outsole, lining, and laces, with new, recycled materials. Unfortunately, due to the small size of this test run, the materials that we removed were land filled.

From an environmental standpoint, saving the leather far outweighed the environmental impacts of shipping the product to the Dominican Republic and tossing the non-reusable components. We also observed that the combination of new materials development (e.g. developing an outsole material that can be recycled into new outsoles at end of life) and a scaling of this initiative could allow for a ramp up to Cradle to Cradle type product. We still have a ways to go. . . especially on figuring out how to best give consumer and incentive to bring back an old pair of shoes. Our boots last a very, very long time!

What we envision in the near term is using our own stores for product take-back. This allows us to 1) offer incentives for take backs, and 2) inspect and consolidate product for shipping, and 3) use our own factory for recycling. Likely, our nutrition labels will carry recycling information for consumers. Of course, our stores and website would provide additional information.

• Posted September 10, 2008
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