Since its first documented shoemakers in 1774, multiple generations of the BIRKENSTOCK family have worked tirelessly to reshape footwear.
A SLEEPING GIANT IS AWAKENED
BIRKENSTOCK remained a family-owned and -operated business until 2012, when Karl Birkenstock’s sons Stephan, Christian and Alex decided that, for the first time in the company’s history, BIRKENSTOCK should appoint a CEO from outside of the family. This was not an easy decision for the Birkenstocks, whose name had been attached to this iconic brand for generations.
The family made the bold move of bringing in Oliver Reichert, a shoe industry-outsider who had spent more than a decade working at a German sports television channel. Reichert made it his mission to meticulously examine every aspect of the business, and harness BIRKENSTOCK’s untapped potential—referred to internally as ‘waking the sleeping giant’. A key focus was on modernization, facilitating connections with the fashion industry and introducing more fashion-focused designs.
Monocle interview with Oliver Reichert
Reichert has driven the company to consistently outperform its sales targets, doubling BIRKENSTOCK’s footwear production capacity in the process. On October 11th 2023, BIRKENSTOCK went live on Wall Street with the iconic New York Stock Exchange, raising about $495 million and initially valuing the company at about $8.64 billion. “Reichert didn’t only rouse the giant to its feet but is preparing it for a sprint,” wrote fashion journalist Melissa Drier in a 2017 article for Women’s Wear Daily.
BEST FOOT FORWARD
For more than 20 years, Carl Birkenstock tried to turn his Ideal Shoe into an industrial reality, but factories found the shoe production too complex. Nine different lasts were required to produce just one shoe size, plus the insole soles had to be installed by the shoe-shops, which required them to be trained.
Carl eventually gave up on his dream of the Ideal Shoe in 1961, but none of those learnings were lost. Carl turned his attention fully to producing publications about foot health. His mission, he wrote in Fußorthopädie: Das System Carl Birkenstock, was to “dispel common misconceptions, and promote agreement on orthopedic issues within the footwear community wherever possible.”
THE ORTHOPEDIC EVANGELIST
Hard at work at the turn of the 20th century, Konrad Birkenstock believed that supportive footwear shouldn’t be the reserve of the wealthy few who could afford to order bespoke shoes. He set about experimenting with lasts (the wooden molds around which shoes are constructed) with rounded heels and curving arches that distinguished between the left and the right, better reflecting the natural shape of the foot.
“Clients who had shoes made for them using Konrad Birkenstock’s lasts loved them because they were so much more comfortable,” says historian Andrea H. Schneider-Braunberger. “But shoemakers took longer to embrace the lasts than the clients because the process of making shoes using them was too complicated.”
Konrad’s ergonomic “Fußbett” designs were bound into existing shoes and shaped to support the foot, promoting physical well-being. Later versions were modified to slip into a shoe. Today the Fußbett remains a hallmark of the BIRKENSTOCK brand.
Advertising, 1935
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
The Birkenstock family’s shoemaking heritage can be traced back to 1774. A document from that year registered in Langen-Bergheim (a small village close to Frankfurt with less than 200 inhabitants) mentions Johannes Birkenstock, who had completed his apprenticeship as a shoemaker there. Johannes and his brother produced robust, leather footwear made to endure farm labor and were produced to last a life long.
Licensing Certificate.
“There were two kinds of shoemaker in those days,” says historian Andrea H. Schneider-Braunberger. “Some lived in the cities and made a good living producing shoes for the nobility. But they were the minority. Most shoemakers were very poor, the Birkenstock family included. They made very basic shoes for their community.”
THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT
Life was hard for the Birkenstock family in the mid-1800s. Like many craftsmen, farmers and tradespeople living and working in rural Germany, they struggled to make ends meet and lived
in relative poverty. It was against this backdrop that the German Democratic Revolution of 1848 took place, spurred on by failed harvests that plunged countryside communities deeper into poverty, while the German nobility continued to hoard wealth and power.
Johannes Birkenstock Jr and his son Johann Conrad (Konrad Birkenstock’s father) were swept up by the movement, signing a local petition on April 19th, 1849, in support of a unified German constitution—a politically progressive move that risked the family being labeled as dangerous revolutionaries. “From the very early days, the Birkenstock family have taken their convictions seriously,” says historian Andrea H. Schneider-Braunberger. “They stood up for their rights. They wanted a better life. That’s what I see in this signature.”
Petition signed by members of the Birkenstock family.
