Timberland Men's Earthkeepers Rippler Chuka Boots Full Review
Posted: 21 May 2008 by Adam Vaughan
Timberland's new to the eco footwear world, but it's jumped in both feet first. This pair of bloke's fashion boots are its flagship design in a range of ten 'Earthkeeper' shoes that each have a different twist to make them a little kinder to the planet, varying from using organic cotton to recycled materials.
These Rippler Chukas combine both organic cotton for the upper canvas and 30 per cent recycled rubber for the soles. As you'll have clocked from the photos, they're a pair of everyday walking boots intended more for pounding urban streets than demanding Peak District hikes.
On first impressions of our test pair, we were erring on the opinion that they were too hippy dippy for our style. But after dozens of flattering comments, we've come down on the verdict that the boots are hippy chic. Cool, not crusty.
They're good quality as well as good-looking. We've enjoyed wearing them, running for the bus in them and cycling in them. They're waterproof (rain-proof rather than river-fording-proof), comfy and supported our feet well. The shoes are well suited for summer as they're very lightweight and breathable -- we found them mercifully unsweaty.
Although the laces aren't particularly green, the canvas upper is made from organic cotton and the sole's part-recycled rubber
The only bum note we'd sound on quality is the ease of cleaning. We accidentally got some black oil stain marks from our bike chain on them and found the light colour showed stains badly. Even after a wash, they didn't return fully to their original sparkling "light tan". Look after them, though, and you should be fine.
So how green are these shoes? Well, the canvas is 100 per cent organic cotton and the rubber sole is 30 per cent recycled rubber. That's pretty good. Conventional cotton's the most pesticide-sprayed crop on the planet, so any cut in that use of chemicals is good news for cotton farmers and their fields. Although we couldn't glean any further info from Timberland about where these materials were sourced from, the boots' use of eco materials makes them streets ahead of the offerings from other high street fashion brands. Continue reading...
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