WSJ : A Key to Birkenstock’s Billion Dollar Success? Reformed SneakerheadsBurnt out on splashy Nikes and Adidas, a surprising number of sneaker collectors have come to embrace the shoe company’s frumpy Boston clog
This week, Birkenstock will clomp its way onto Wall Street, with an initial public offering seeking a valuation of up to $9.2 billion for the 249-year-old German shoe brand. And as it has evolved from a frumpy, orthopedic sandal maker to a more-than billion-dollar business, Birkenstock has received a boost from a surprising source: jaded sneakerheads who have become smitten with its plump, closed-toed Boston clogs.
“I like to keep something like a Boston in my rotation every week instead of just all sneakers all the time,” said Drew Good, 25, who runs a clothing brand and does content creation in Miami.
Like a bed bug outbreak, there is an infectious sneaker fatigue coursing through the streetwear world. The onslaught of new Nike releases and gotta-have-it Adidas have spurred many collectors to cry enough.
“The market, especially with Dunks or Jordans, is just oversaturated completely,” said Good. “People are looking for a different silhouette on foot—different feel, different comfortability.”
Good has embraced the stubborn Boston, with its cork footbed, which has scarcely been altered since its debut in 1976. She now owns three pairs of Birkenstock’s backless cup-fronted clogs, getting the most miles out of a mocha-y brown pair.
It has been a heady few years for the gray-bearded shoemaker. In 2021, Birkenstock was acquired by L Catterton, the private-equity firm backed by French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Financial success has followed. In the fiscal year 2022, its revenue totaled €1.24 billion (around $1.31 billion), a roughly 70% increase from two years prior.
Through that period Birkenstock basked in a pandemic-era push toward comfort shoes that hasn’t faded. (Other beneficiaries include Hoka and Crocs.) Birkenstock has also gone headlong into the high-end collaboration market, cozying up with luxury imprints like Dior and Valentino on coveted pricey clogs and sandals. Oh, and a pair of its strap sandals made a cameo in “Barbie,” the year’s biggest film, representing enlightenment in contrast to the ditsy ignorance embodied by a glistening pink heel.
The hypebeasty embrace of the Boston clog is thus just one recent success for the shoe company, but for that particular sliver of the fashion world, it marks a significant shift in taste.
“There’s this appetite from customers and sneakerheads to have a more diverse set of products in their closet,” said Drew Haines, merchandising director of sneakers and collectibles at StockX, an online resale marketplace, which has seen triple-digit growth of Birkenstock sales for the past three years.
On StockX, Birkenstock is nudging its way in with the Nikes of the world. It is now the second fastest-growing shoe brand on StockX, with particular demand for the Rubenesque Bostons, a shoe previously associated with hikers and health food store owners.
Hypebeasts may be squeamish about baring their toes—in interviews few reported to be fans of Birkenstock’s two-strap Arizona sandals. Birkenstock’s IPO filing notes that closed-toed styles make up over 20% of its total revenue. On Birkenstock’s website, cork Bostons start at $120. Through a representative Birkenstock declined to comment for this article.
Drew Joiner, a 26-year-old content creator who makes YouTube videos about men’s fashion (including videos such as “The Trendiest Sneakers for Summer 2023”) used to think of Birkenstocks as “Jesus sandals.” Yet all those hours spent shuffling around his house during the pandemic swayed him to shift away from sneakers and grab a pair of Bostons.
He found the shoes’ cork footbed “really uncomfortable at first,” but in time, it molded to his feet, a supportive feeling quite different from the sneakers he was used to. He now wears Birkenstocks regularly—during a recent interview, he had a pair of wide-strapped, open-toed Kyoto sandals on. Birkenstocks, he said, are “an acquired taste like certain wines.” A YouTube video he made titled “3 Things you NEED to know before buying Birkenstock Bostons” has been viewed over 206,000 times.
As converts have caught on to the cork, Birkenstocks have ignited a sneaker-esque hype cycle of their own. Mule Boyz, a 4-year-old Instagram account dedicated to highlighting the latest in backless footwear innovation, has over 41,000 followers. Nordstrom has hosted two in-store “Birkentalks” with the Mule Boyz and Birkenstock, attended by many mule-wearing millennials. (Jian DeLeon, the store’s men’s fashion director, co-runs the account.)
Swipe through @MuleBoyz and sandy Birkenstock clogs will appear time and time again. A post from July showing a pair of customized mint-green Boston clogs includes comments like “Need a pair!!!” and “Yesssss.” Not bad for a shoe that was introduced when Peter Frampton was dominating the Billboard charts.
Elizabeth Venter, 29, who owns a vintage resale business in New York City, purchased a pair of Boston clogs after seeing a friend’s sister post her pair online. She got hooked and has worn the shoes nearly every day since. She also became something of an online mule evangelist, creating TikTok videos and Instagram posts about how to style the Boston.
“TikTok and Pinterest are the biggest drivers right now of fashion trends,” said Venter, noting that Birkenstocks are particularly hot on these platforms. “Everybody that I know through the internet owns Boston clogs.”
The social-media generation has helped the orthopedic shoe brand shed some of its Deadhead funk. According to its IPO filing, 43% of the brand’s consumers are either millennials or Gen Z.
Still, Venter hears from detractors who say the doughy shoes are ugly or look like potatoes. She concedes they have a point: “Of the prettiest shoes in the world, I wouldn’t pick them,” she said. But in these anti-fashion times, when hole-riddled baggy jeans and gaudy gas station sunglasses are on trend, endearingly frumpy Birkenstocks have an edge. “When I get dressed I’m not like, ‘Oh, what’s the prettiest thing I could put on today,’” said Venter.
Birkenstock’s turn toward being fashionable is not entirely organic. In recent years, it has been on a collaboration tear, producing clogs and sandals with everyone from the dark priest of high-fashion Rick Owens to the streetwear pioneers at Stussy to the luxury powerhouse Valentino.
These collabs have also thrust Birkenstock in front of a new set of rabid, newness-obsessed shoppers. Hypebeast.com, the internet’s landing page for all things streetwear, went from scarcely covering Birkenstock at all as recently as six years ago to posting repeatedly about the $1,100 buckle-back Dior mules and the corduroy Stussy clogs.
By emphasizing collabs, Birkenstock has actually begun to behave more like a sneaker company. Haines of StockX noted that with its attention-grabbing collaborations, Birkenstock is taking a page from the Nikes of the world. “Anyone can run the playbook if they work with the right brands, the right creators,” he said. For Birkenstock, following that playbook has led them all the way to Wall Street.