Timberland Earthkeepers Review: Brookton Fit, Sole and Blisters

The Timberland Earthkeepers Brookton 6-inch Classic is a light, recycled-content walking boot with an excellent sole and a heel that runs narrow and stiff, which is where the blisters come from. Timberland stopped selling the Brookton years ago, and the Mt. Maddsen line is where the same recycled-materials thinking lives now.

I travel in comfortable clothes. Leggings instead of jeans, trainers instead of leather boots, and 2 solid weeks in Teva sandals when it is hot. By that logic I should have owned walking boots for years and I never did, so when Blacks.co.uk offered me a pair of Earthkeepers Brookton 6-inch Classic boots to review, I took them. The box arrived, I opened it and I fell for them on looks alone. Whether they were comfortable was a separate question.

Timberland Earthkeepers Brookton specifications

The Brookton 6-inch Classic was built from full-grain nubuck leather on an EVA outsole, with recycled PET through the laces and lining and an OrthoLite foam footbed inside. It was Timberland’s attempt at putting recycled material into a boot that still looked like a Timberland. The features it was built with are listed below.

• a full-grain nubuck upper from a leather tannery rated silver by the Leather Working Group for its water, energy and waste management
• 100% recycled PET laces, made from plastic bottles
• 100% recycled PET mesh lining and footbed cover
• an OrthoLite foam footbed with an antimicrobial treatment against odour
• a padded collar around the ankle
• an injection-moulded EVA outsole with 15% recycled rubber pods for grip

Two of those matter on a walk and the rest are reasons to feel better about buying leather. The OrthoLite footbed and the EVA outsole are the pair that make this boot worth wearing, and they are covered below.

What the Brookton is like to walk in

It walks far better than it has any right to for a boot this slim, and the sole is why. I wore them repeatedly before writing anything, because a boot needs time to take the shape of a foot. They went to work, around the Christmas market in Antwerp, through Heverlee Woods and across the Kalmthoutse Heide.

The sole and footbed

The sole is the reason to own this boot. It is thick enough that you stop feeling individual stones and branches through it, and light enough that your legs do not notice by the afternoon. On uneven ground it flexes instead of fighting you, and it still supports the foot.

The OrthoLite footbed does something I have not felt in another boot. It pushes back as you step, so each stride feels like it is being helped along rather than absorbed. After a day on a heath that is the difference between tired and sore.

The look

The Brookton is the first walking boot I saw that I would wear into a city. Walking boots usually look like equipment, which is why so many people own a pair for trails and a different pair for everything else. This one did not, and it got worn far more often because of it.

The nubuck held up better than expected too. I had mud on these several times and expected the finish to scuff or stain. It dried, brushed off and looked the same afterwards.

The heel, which is the problem

The heel is narrow and stiff, and it gave me blisters. I have a bony knob on the back of my left heel, and shoes that grip tightly there without flexing always cause trouble. These did.

Be careful about how much weight you give that, because the evidence points both ways. I got blisters on the left foot only, never on the right, which suggests my heel rather than the boot. What is not just me is the shape: the Brookton is cut noticeably slimmer than most walking boots, the heel counter is sturdy, and it gives very little while it is new. A narrow stiff heel on a new boot is a blister risk for anyone whose heels are sensitive.

Thicker socks help while a boot breaks in, and so does wearing it around the house before taking it anywhere far. Neither fixes a boot that is the wrong shape for your foot.

Is the Timberland Earthkeepers Brookton still sold?

No. The Brookton 6-inch Classic left Timberland’s line years ago, and it has been out of mainstream retail long enough that a Zappos search for the exact boot name now returns other Timberland models instead of this one. Checked in September 2026, what turns up is used stock, clearance sizes and third-party listings.

Earthkeepers itself is still a live Timberland name rather than a retired one, and the brand still uses it for products made with recycled and bio-based materials. The boot is gone; the idea behind it is not.

What to buy instead of the Earthkeepers Brookton

The Mt. Maddsen is the closest current Timberland boot, and it inherits the specific things that made the Brookton good. Timberland builds it from full-grain leather out of a Leather Working Group silver-rated tannery, the same sourcing standard the Brookton’s nubuck came from, and puts it on a 34% recycled rubber lug outsole, which is the Brookton’s recycled-rubber outsole with real tread on it. It also carries a waterproof membrane, and the Brookton’s own spec list names a PET mesh lining and no membrane at all.

The 2 current Timberland boots worth comparing are listed below, closest match to the boot reviewed here first.

1. Timberland Mt. Maddsen Mid Waterproof, around $120 (about €110, £89), which is the hiking boot in the current range and the closest match on materials and on purpose. A mid-height waterproof leather boot is what the Brookton was reaching for.
2. Timberland Allington Heights 6-inch, around $150 (about €138, £112), which is the closest match on looks for anyone whose reason to buy the Brookton was a slim 6-inch boot they could wear into town.

The sole is the thing to chase if it was what sold you on the Brookton. That means getting the Mt. Maddsen waterproof hiking boot on your foot before you compare anything else, because a boot that walks well and rubs your heel is still the wrong boot. Remaining and secondhand Brookton pairs surface under the Timberland Earthkeepers name on Amazon, where the line still covers several boots.

The verdict

These are good walking boots with one shape problem. The sole and the footbed are genuinely better than the boot’s slim build suggests, the support is there, and they look like something you would wear in a city rather than equipment. Set against that, the heel is slim and unforgiving while it is new, so anyone with sensitive or oddly shaped heels should expect a break-in period and plan for blisters during it.

FAQ

Are Timberland Earthkeepers boots still made?

The Brookton 6-inch Classic reviewed here is not. Earthkeepers is still a current Timberland name for products using recycled and bio-based materials, so the line exists while this particular boot does not.

Do Timberland Earthkeepers Brookton boots cause blisters?

They can, at the heel, while they are new. The heel is cut narrow and the counter is stiff, so it rubs on heels that are sensitive or unusually shaped until the material gives.

Are the Earthkeepers Brookton boots waterproof?

No. The Brookton’s spec list names a PET mesh lining and no waterproof membrane, which is one reason to look at the Mt. Maddsen if you walk in wet weather.

What replaced the Timberland Earthkeepers Brookton?

The Mt. Maddsen is the nearest current Timberland boot, with leather from the same silver-rated tannery standard, a 34% recycled rubber outsole and a waterproof membrane the Brookton’s spec list never listed.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 4 tips below come from wearing these boots to work, to the Antwerp Christmas market, through Heverlee Woods and across the Kalmthoutse Heide, and from checking what Timberland sells in their place in September 2026.

1. Try the heel before you try anything else. The sole and the footbed on this boot are excellent and the heel is the part that fails people. Put the boot on, walk, and pay attention to the back of your foot rather than to how it feels underneath.
2. Break them in at home for a week. The heel counter is stiff when new and softens with wear, so the blisters arrive on the first long day if that day is also the first day. Thicker socks help during that week.
3. Do not buy these for wet walking. The nubuck takes mud well and brushes clean, and the boot has a PET mesh lining rather than a waterproof membrane. A rainy trail needs a membrane, which is what the Mt. Maddsen adds.
4. Buy secondhand in your usual size, not larger. The Brookton is cut slim through the heel and the foot, and going up a size makes the heel slip, which causes exactly the blister the narrow fit causes. Size the boot to your foot and solve the heel with socks.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first-hand notes in this review come from walking in her own pair of Timberland Earthkeepers Brookton boots around Antwerp, Heverlee Woods and the Kalmthoutse Heide, in boots Blacks.co.uk supplied for review. The team covers walking and packing gear for independent travellers, including the boots, jackets and bags worth buying, and updates this page when a product is discontinued, replaced or repriced.