Timberland became a publicly traded company in 1987. The family-owned footwear business completed its initial public offering that year, with its stock beginning to trade on the American Stock Exchange.
The move followed a period of rapid growth after Timberland’s waterproof boot, introduced in 1973, established the brand as more than a private-label shoe manufacturer. Nathan Swartz had acquired an interest in the Abington Shoe Company in 1952, and the business was renamed The Timberland Company in 1978 as its own brand expanded.
The company’s public-market era lasted until VF Corporation agreed to acquire Timberland in 2011 for approximately $2 billion. That later transaction can cause confusion: 2011 was the takeover date, not the year Timberland first became public. Another nearby milestone was 1986, when Sidney Swartz became the family operation’s sole proprietor and the company opened its first Timberland store.