PHOEBE PHILO’S “FURKENSTOCK” AND THE UGLY-SHOE REVOLUTION
FRANCES MCDORMAND WEARS BIRKENSTOCKS TO THE OSCARS
MELBOURNE’S MARCEL GOERKE PIONEERS WEAR AND REPAIR
Icons & PIONEERS
Productive partnerships
BIRKENSTOCK has aligned with many legends over its history – and played a part in creating some, too.
Designs that just work
Better than any tech leader, Steve Jobs knew how to anticipate future needs rather than respond to current ones. He believed that “people don’t know what they want until you show it to them,” (as recorded in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the iconic founder). This is why he brought out the Macintosh without doing any market research, and products like the iPod, iPhone and iPad, which we didn’t know we needed.
Jobs was also known for obsessing over the least conspicuous details, for believing in partnership as a path to success, and as a fan of German design. It’s no surprise that, as Jobs was developing the technology that would transform our world, he wore BIRKENSTOCKS.
His well-worn pair of tan suede ARIZONAS sold at auction for $218,750 in New York in November 2022. The following month they were displayed at a star-studded event in New York, marking the lead-up to BIRKENSTOCK’s 250 anniversary. Their significance wasn’t lost on those in attendance. Actor Whoopi Goldberg telling a New York Times reporter: “I’d pay to look at them.”
ARIZONA’s worn by Steve Jobs published in The New York Times.
MARGOT FRASER TAKES A STAND
German-born, California-based Margot Fraser stumbled upon BIRKENSTOCK sandals by chance. In 1966, she was visiting a health spa in Bavaria where a yoga teacher, hearing her complaints of chronic foot pain, recommended their iconic sandals. Margot was impressed by how quickly her discomfort was alleviated.
On her return to the US, Fraser took the sandals with her, then decided to begin selling them from her adopted homeland. “I didn’t realize what it would take or how I would do it, but I thought that this had great potential right from the beginning,” she told Footwear Plus magazine in 1998.
Business was initially limited to Fraser’s family and friends, with American women in particular not used to prioritising form and function in their footwear. “Women thought they had to be uncomfortable, that it was part of being alive and being a woman,” Fraser told Footwear Plus.
Margot Fraser.
After Fraser found her market among the non-conventional, nonconformist consumers of the West Coast, she set up a professional distribution and sales business to boost BIRKENSTOCK’s presence in the US. At the time, female entrepreneurship wasn’t commonplace. “She had to fight for things as a woman,” says historian Andrea H. Schneider- Braunberger. “Particularly as a divorcée. She was really tough. And she wasn’t rich, either. She really had to start small and be really hands-on.”
Fraser’s growing sales record impressed Karl Birkenstock who, in 1974, signed an import agreement making Fraser the sole US importer of the sandals. A year later, her business broke the sales record of one million US dollars for the first time.
Margot Fraser.
PHOEBE PHILO’S “FURKENSTOCK” AND THE UGLY-SHOE REVOLUTION
In October 2012, British designer Phoebe Philo took the fashion world by storm when she sent models down the catwalk in mink-lined, ARIZONA-inspired sandals for her Céline show. Although BIRKENSTOCK was not involved in the making of the shoes, there was no doubt that Philo had drawn inspiration from the brand, and her designs were dubbed “Furkenstocks’’ by the press.
“The shoe looked alluringly comfortable, like a Teddy bear that cuddled back. They also looked perplexingly impractical: if it’s cold enough for fur, it’s too cold—and likely too wet—for open-toed shoes,” wrote Rebecca Mead in a 2015 article for The New Yorker. “The sandal was witty, provocative, and slightly silly.”
The brand’s association with Philo, widely considered to be the designer to redefine modern womenswear, led to a swift rise in sales of BIRKENSTOCKS—and a revolution in women’s footwear.
Philo’s unexpected combinations—open-toe sandals with fur lining, trainers with tailoring—redefined 21st-century luxury, empowering women to feel confident and comfortable in their footwear choices. It’s not surprising that Philo was drawn to BIRKENSTOCK’s unassuming yet timeless footwear.
As a “global citizen”, Philo “realized earlier than others the shift in our value system,” says BIRKENSTOCK CEO OLiver Reichert. “To me, her interpretation of our most iconic sandal was far more than a fashion statement. It was a contribution to the public discourse, and an act of encouragement.”
FRANCES MCDORMAND WEARS BIRKENSTOCKS TO THE OSCARS
It was BIRKENSTOCK’s California-based President David Kahan who pushed McDormand to wear the brand’s sandals at the Oscars. The pair are friends, introduced by McDormand’s stylist in Los Angeles. “She’s a loyal BIRKENSTOCK fan and you rarely see her in public not wearing them,” says Kahan.
When Kahan dared McDormand to wear BIRKENSTOCKS to the 2019 Academy Awards, the actor accepted the challenge. McDormand designed her custom ARIZONA sandals with Valentino Creative Director, Pierpaolo Piccioli, landing on a suede upper in her favorite shade of acid yellow to pair with her deep magenta Valentino gown.
“It created such a media buzz,” says Kahan. “People really went crazy.” And McDormand clearly enjoyed the experience, because later that year she appeared at the Rome Film Festival wearing a pair of red, patent leather ARIZONAs.
But her decision to appear at arguably the world’s most prestigious red-carpet event in flat, German sandals was more than just an attention-grabbing fashion moment. It was a cultural statement against expectations for women to wear impractical and uncomfortable footwear in order to be perceived as glamorous. “To forgo heels for a pair of Piccioli-designed cork-soled slides is fearless, insanely cool, and a totally appropriate move in the wild world of Frances McDormand,” said Brooke Bobb in Vogue.
MELBOURNE’S MARCEL GOERKE PIONEERS WEAR AND REPAIR
Like Margot Fraser in the US, BIRKENSTOCK’s success in Australia came down to the hard work of one pioneering retailer: Marcel Goerke.
Goerke was born in Braunschweig, Germany, in the 1970s, to parents who owned a shoe shop. He moved to Australia in 1992. At the time in Australia, “only the occasional German backpacker could be spotted in BIRKENSTOCKS,” Goerke said. “They were only really known as orthopedic health sandals.” But the unisex, hard-wearing, no-frill designs soon struck a chord with followers of Australia’s burgeoning ecological movement and young people in the grunge scene. Encouraged, Goerke opened his first store in Melbourne in 1992.
Mainstream consumers soon recognised the practicality of the robust, open-toed design, perfectly suited to the Australian climate. BIRKENSTOCKS could be worn 12 months of the year, which was good news for sales. But Goerke soon noticed that the sandals wore down more quickly in Australia than elsewhere in the world. In a quick response to the needs of the market, he began to offer a repair service.
“Every pair we sell we make sure to explain to the consumer that once the heel wears down, they should come back and we can prolong the lifespan of their shoes by repairing them. Today, in 2024, we repair upwards of 5,000 pairs every year.”
