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Johanna Birkenstock is a shoe maker in a small village in Germany. He develops an idea for a shoe unlike any other to provide the best comfort for the people wearing them -
Konrad Birkenstock first opens a shoemaker's shop of his own in Frankfurt, where he begins his "healthy footwear" journey. In order to fully and successfully produce the sandals, he relocates to a small factory. In doing this, he is able to register the "foot bed" trademark for the flexible insoles of his sandals. -
Konrad Birkenstock develops the first three dimensional figure of the sandal. This would be the first time that the anatomy of the human foot would be specifically mapped into the production of a shoe. -
With Konrad's development of "healthy footwear," his begins creating the insoles for his shoes. These would be created to have specifically flexible insoles for everyone. He begins selling two of his four flexible insoles under the designation "foot bed" -
Birkenstock continues to explore different materials for the insoles of his shoes. During this time, he was finally able to settle on the perfect mix of materials that he would be satisfied with. -
The son of Konrad Birkenstock, Karl, takes his father's ideas of healthy feet and makes an attempt to patent an "ideal shoe." During this time, the main Birkenstock family companies remained small businesses. -
The Birkenstock company did not associate with the crimes relating to the National Socialists. They did not produce military goods or employ forced or slave laborers. Despite the lack of materials, the production of the insoles was continued with substitute materials so that people could have access to the sandals. -
Karl Birkenstock releases the first fitness sandal with a deep and flexible foot bed. This is introduced as the Madrid model. Many people were now interested in getting a pair to see what they would be like. -
Fraser takes a trip to Germany with her friends and buys a pair of Birkenstocks to ease her chronic foot pain. After feeling instant relief, she brought a few pairs to sell in the U.S. After this, the shoes were becoming more and more popular. -
During this time, Italy, France, and Great Britain all began selling health-conscious footwear. By the end of 1980, Birkenstock began selling in Japan as well as Australia. This allowed for more and more people to have access to shoes that could provide them with comfort like no other. -
Karl Birkenstock made the decision to divide his company into multiple sub-companies each with their own brand, managed by his sons. After some time, the strategy would be changed again in an effort to preserve the Birkenstock brand. -
This year would mark the birth of the Birkenstock group. for the first time, the management is no longer in the hands of the Birkenstock family. Oliver Reichert gave the company a corporate like structure and established a Global brand strategy. -
L Catterton, a leading international investment company takes over the majority stake in Birkenstock. -
In an effort to meet the current increasing demands, the company increased production all around. In this, they remain committed to Germany as a manufacturing site. -
Birkenstock invests 100 million euros in a new factory located in Pasewalk, Germany to significantly expand production. The factory was put into full operation in September 2023. -
As of January 2024, the Birkenstock company has continued to expand and become more and more popular and plan to for many years to come. The company has transformed from a small idea to provide comfort, to an entire industry of feeding people's needs.