EN Timberland: Advice of an Icon
2025-10-01
Some things can’t be explained. Instead, they’re felt. They’re carried in the way someone walks into a room, in the silence between their words, or in the weight of their choices that won’t be compromised.
That is the territory of icons. Of those who have been shaped in the storms.
This Autumn/Winter ’25, Timberland is listening, not to the chatter, but to those who walk differently. To trailmakers who stand their ground in the studio, on the streets of London, Berlin, Milan and Paris, and across the global hubs where music, film and fashion collide.
The campaign isn’t simply a story, but an invitation: behind closed doors, through late-night studio sessions, in recording booths, or conversations sparked beside the catwalk, the blueprint of an icon is revealed.
Because what separates the icon from the rest isn’t just talent—it’s the blueprint. The hours, the choices made, the rituals that build waves.
This is Advice of an Icon. A campaign unfolding not only on billboards and city streets, but in earned access: fly-on-the-wall moments, grassroots competitions, and behind-the-scenes glimpses that offer the public an authentic connection to the forces shaping the next wave of icons.
What would an icon tell you—if they could?
The Icons
This season, we searched for true trailmakers. For those whose body of work carries far more than just style. In short, we’ve sought out those people who have shaped and moulded culture itself.
Gabriel Moses — Director / Photographer & creative force behind the AW25 campaign
At eighteen, with one photograph, the rules of fashion photography changed. Gabriel Moses’ debut cover for Dazed showed the depth of his vision—one that was unwilling to bow to what had come before. Since then, his work in film, design and imagery has redefined the way we see ourselves, identity and culture.
Born and raised in South London, Moses has brought his unapologetic vision to campaigns for Nike, Louis Vuitton, Adidas and now, Timberland–each showcasing his ability to merge intimacy with grandeur, to fearlessly challenge our perceptions of culture.
For Timberland’s Autumn/Winter ’25 campaign, Moses is not just a contributor but its central photographic force. Spirit, dignity, power: these are words that ground Moses’ approach, and they’re palpable in every frame. Subjects in his portraits do not pose passively—they confront, challenge, and invite the viewer to consider new readings of culture, self, identity and truth.
Skepta — MC / DJ
Tottenham’s streets are part of his pulse, and global clubs his rhythm. As he rose to fame, Skepta never asked permission. He built grime into a language that the world couldn’t ignore. His reach extends past music—into fashion, art, and an abiding insistence on self-definition. Skepta is proof that an icon is so much more than just a title–it’s a trajectory.
He sums up his own journey perfectly when he says, “There was never another option for me apart from success,” he says. “Anyone who’s built something will tell you — you need blind faith, even when the outcome isn’t clear.”
Spike Lee — Filmmaker / Director
For nearly four decades, Spike Lee has asked the world to look harder at questions that define our culture and way of life. His films are not just stories. They’re confrontations that ask you to look that much deeper. He is a director, but so much more—he’s a provocateur, a cultural agitator and an elder statesman of authenticity. His advice cuts straight to the core: “You have to have a work ethic. You gotta put the work in. You can’t cheat that, if you’re cheating, you’re cheating yourself.”
Kiko Mizuhara — Model / Actress
Between the world’s cultures, she built her own. Born in the U.S. and raised in Japan, Kiko Mizuhara’s career explores just how far fearless transformation can take you. She shifts between model, actress, and designer with fluidity and makes categories irrelevant. Her genre-defining career is one of her own making and drive. “I kept going. I kept doing what I liked. Sometimes there were challenges, and I failed. It’s because I stayed true to who I am. That’s why I’m here. And I will never apologise for who I am,” states Kiko.
What Separates Them
You’ll find talent just about everywhere. True legacy-leavers are far less common.
An icon doesn’t just show up–they ritualise for days and weeks and months. They keep walking long after others have turned back. Advice from an Icon is not just about exploring biography, but revealing a hidden blueprint: the patterns of endurance, the mindset that transforms that first bright spark into something more permanent.
A Campaign Unfolding
There will be activations. City moments. Spaces that shift overnight into something unexpected. Stores that become stages, conversations that move from the back rooms and onto the billboards.
You may hear whispers that come from London’s underground, or see flickers in Milan’s windows. Or you might just catch an image that refuses to leave you in Paris or Berlin. The full picture comes from all these fragments, scattered across months, until the path is revealed.
London Fashion Week will anchor the season: an intimate showcase where press, community voices, and cultural platforms converge. Music, live art, and fashion collide in a way that transforms.
In Amsterdam, the story extends into Europe’s vibrant club culture. In Berlin and Paris, retail becomes a stage—stores reconfigured into living galleries where icons and audiences interact directly.
Even beyond the events, visibility is amplified globally: press trips, exclusive interviews, and seeded product drops ensure that what begins in a few cities becomes a wider cultural wave.
The Products
For decades, Timberland boots have carried the culture forward. This season, they’re back as symbols of the paths that lie both behind and ahead.
- Timberland 6-Inch Yellow Boot — The beginning and the benchmark. Famous for durability that became legendary, as much in the city as on the trail.
- Euro Hiker — A boot born in nature but boldly claimed by the streets.
- Timberland 6-Inch Black Boot — Bold in black, both a shadow and a statement.
- Noreen — A classic that refuses to stay still.
The Invitation
We could tell you where to be in the weeks to come. We could map the when and the how. But that is not the way of icons.
Instead, follow the signs. Seek the places where music, fashion, film, and truth converge. Somewhere in those crossings, icons will speak.
And when they do, the question remains:
If you were the icon, what advice would you give?