After decades as a dusty stereotype, Birkenstocks are hot. Sales have skyrocketed and they’ve filtered from high fashion down onto the feet of grateful pedestrians across America. These Vermont-ass sandals are riding high, and they’re enjoying it!
The Cut sent writer Cathy Horyn to Gorlitz, Germany, where many of the clunky cork sandals are produced, to explore the brand’s resurgence. Not so long ago, they were the punchline of an extraordinarily tired Rush Limbaugh joke. But—in a perfect illustration of the hilarious pack mentality of High Fashion—Phoebe Philo of Celine sent fur-lined Birks down the runway in 2012 and gave the industry an excuse to wear something actually comfortable on their feet for once.
Result: They made 10 million pairs of shoes in 2012; this year, it’ll be 25 million. A whole pile of trend pieces about ugly shoes later, Birkenstocks doesn’t even NEED Supreme or Vetements:
The company doesn’t release results, but according to estimates, sales have tripled since 2012 to $800 million. The brand is even cool enough to turn down Supreme and Vetements, both of which, Reichert says, wanted to put logos on sandals. Reichert said no, chiefly because Birkenstock didn’t need more demand in its factories; earlier this summer, it had orders for 2 million pairs, bread-and-butter styles, that it still hadn’t filled.
Co-CEO Oliver Reichert—who has helped lead the company’s capitalization on its newfound fashion cred by doing things like hiring a proper sales force, which the company previously did not have—just doesn’t see where it would get the brand:
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