Birkenstock, German Maker of Iconic Sandals, Files for I.P.O. in New York

Why It Matters: A start-up with deep roots in Germany

In a letter submitted with the providing utility, Oliver Reichert, the corporate’s chief govt, drew a hyperlink between Birkenstock’s founding in 1774 to its present-day aspirations.

“We see ourselves as the oldest start-up on earth,” Mr. Reichert stated. “We are a brand backed by a family tradition of a quarter of a millennium with the resilience, timeless relevance and credibility of a multigenerational business.”

From its beginnings as a shoemaker to the event of its distinctive orthopedic arch help within the early twentieth century, the footwear model has risen to turn into a style icon, showing on the catwalks of New York and Milan. And on this summer time’s blockbuster film, “Barbie,” Birkenstocks are the down-to-earth various that Barbie is pressured to just accept over her jeweled stilettoes.

In latest years, the model has launched its sandals made with non-animal supplies and a dizzying array of kinds and colours. Collaborations with outstanding shoe designers, together with Christian Dior, Manolo Blahnik, Stüssy and Valentino Garavani, have helped to generate buzz and create demand in style circles.

The firm’s gross sales elevated to €1.24 billion in 2022 from €292 million in 2014, in response to the submitting.

Background: A shoe not only for hippies

The sneakers have been launched to Americans by a German girl who found them on a visit residence to Germany within the Sixties, stuffed her suitcase with the sneakers and tried to influence U.S. retailers to market them. Traditional shoe shops rejected them, however they discovered a market in well being meals shops, the place they have been embraced by younger folks searching for an alternate lifestyle.

Today, the U.S. market accounts for greater than half of Birkenstock’s gross sales, with a community distributors and a rising on-line retailer that reaches prospects straight in additional than 75 international locations.

Birkenstock’s most simple two-strap kinds, made out of a extra environmentally pleasant, softer plastic, promote for about $40, whereas essentially the most unique designer fashions can fetch as much as $1,600. But the center of the product stays its versatile, contoured foot mattress, produced in Germany.

Women, who entered the work pressure in giant numbers within the Nineteen Eighties, are among the many most loyal prospects embracing the practicality and luxury provided by Birkenstocks, and make up 72 % of the corporate’s prospects. But the sneakers’ attraction reaches throughout generations, making them as common with millennials as they’re with the boomer era.

Potential Risks: The trick of taking custom public

Birkenstock’s assertion stated the corporate would face a variety of dangers in going public. Among them are the risks posed by counterfeit merchandise, it stated, together with the “intense competition” from established firms and newcomers within the shoe market.

But with Birkenstock’s profile deeply rooted in its popularity as an organization from a small city in Germany, and as a part of a counterculture uniform, even the choice to go public may value it prospects. “The transition from a historically family-owned German company to a publicly held company listed on a U.S. stock exchange may negatively impact our reputation,” the assertion stated.