It was the worst IPO the US market had seen in two years. But the thing about legacy brands? They know how to weather a storm.
Birkenstock CEO Oliver Reichert says that going public was the company’s second best option. The first would have been to keep the brand growing in a “peaceful, positive family atmosphere”, but decades of “complex” dynamics led Reichert (the first person outside of the Birkenstock family to run the company) into the arms of the New York Stock Exchange. He rang the bell alongside Alexandre Arnault, who has been a board member since 2023 (L Catterton, the LVMH-backed investment firm, took a minority stake in the brand in 2021). It was a symbolic moment of Birkenstock’s position as a fashion-meets-function heritage brand.
Birkenstock’s Cinderella story from crunchy hippie shoe to fashion staple is now as much embedded in its history as its proprietary footbed, the brand’s signature sole that people within the company consider the foundation of its success and the key to its future. The company didn’t try to make it happen, Reichert says. “We are beyond fashion. We do not chase trends. Trends come and go, but truly great things last forever. When you manage a brand with a heritage of a quarter of a millennium, you think in completely different time frames.”
The stock market, however, thinks in very specific, quarterly time frames. And for a while, even if Birkenstock had managed the seemingly impossible by transcending fashion trends, the brand has struggled to prove to shareholders it still had runway left. After debuting at $41 a share — lower than expectations of $46 thanks to a shaky outlook on public consumer brands and a pandemic hangover — Birkenstock shares have spiked and slumped, reaching a peak of $63.57 last August when the company beat expectations (its lowest point was around $36 in October 2023, shortly after the debut when confidence slumped).
In February, Birkenstock said revenues were up 19 per cent to €362 million for the first quarter of 2025, again beating expectations, but shares remained flat as the brand declined to raise forecasts thanks to looming tariff threats and other macroeconomic uncertainties. A far cry from a peaceful family atmosphere. (It projects revenue growth of 15 to 17 per cent for 2025, on full-year sales of $1.86 billion for 2024, a 20 per cent increase.)
Birkenstock’s rocky start as a public company spoke to how difficult it is today for consumer brands to prove their worth on the stock market. After a spree of brand IPOs in the 2010s, the appetite from shareholders has become more selective. Sneaker brand Allbirds — whose IPO preceded Birkenstock’s by two years — has seen its share price plummet 98 per cent since going public. But for Reichert, the IPO achieved what it needed to in order for it to continue investing in what he calls the brand’s “fundamentals”: quality, authenticity and “protecting what makes Birkenstock unique”.
“We’re now part of a public company, which means more eyes on us — but that doesn’t mean we operate differently,” Reichert says. “The stock market moves fast, and there’s a constant stream of noise that can easily distract you from what really matters. Many brands fall into the trap of prioritising short-term gains over long-term vision. That’s not our approach.”
Birkenstock’s status as a heritage brand has helped get it to where it is today. At the end of last year, that heritage was entombed in The Book of Birkenstock, a stylish coffee table book made with Munich-based design agency Bureau Borsche documenting the brand’s 250-year history. Its status as a fashion brand (self-labelled or not) has changed its trajectory, opening doors and inviting in more customers. From here, Birkenstock toes a fine line: stay true to itself as a purpose-driven brand, without getting chased off the stock exchange; maintain desirability, without alienating long-time loyalists; meet demand without wavering from quality. Birkenstock’s plans as a publicly listed company looks a lot like what other fashion brands are also tasked with doing: crack into new markets, open more retail stores particularly in the US and keep pushing ahead on product innovation. Reichert isn’t worried.
“Actually, it’s quite simple — we’re just doing our job, taking care of the quality of our products, listening to our consumers, developing new silhouettes for our expansionary categories… that’s it.”
Hitting a stride
Birkenstock inspires evangelists. David Kahan, who leads the US office as the brand’s North American president, jokes that “the footbed” is tattooed on his forehead. Over Zoom, he waves around his first-ever pair of Birkenstock sandals, which he keeps in his office; the unmistakable bed footprint confirms years of wear. Kahan was recruited in 2013 — not long after Reichert joined in 2009 and formed Birkenstock Group from 38 single entities that the company had splintered into over the years, all owned by the Birkenstock family — and got busy building up Birkenstock’s network of US wholesale partners. His only mandate, Kahan says, was to “figure out how to make money in what was a money-losing operation at the time”.
He brought the brand to Jenna Lyons, then creative director of J Crew, after spotting her wearing a pair. Models started wearing Arizonas in the catalogue, and the brand sold them the following year. Then, Barneys started carrying the label. But it was Nordstrom that cracked it open after Kahan forged partnerships with the retailer to feature Birkenstock as a fashion brand.
“When we initially introduced Birkenstock more than three decades ago, it was seen as a ‘comfort’ brand merchandised alongside our other traditional comfort brands,” says Tacey Powers, Nordstrom’s executive VP and general merchandising manager of shoes, who’s been with the company for 44 years. “With the casualisation that exploded in the last few years, Birkenstock quickly moved to become a fashion brand that could be paired with anything.”
If wholesale got Birkenstock on the fashion map in the US, it’s now taking back control over its distribution. Shares dipped last autumn when the company reported that more growth came from wholesale partners than its own direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. Today, the brand is investing in its own stores, as well as its digital channels. DTC inspires better customer loyalty, Kahan says. “In a country as big as the US, there’s a lot of potential to open more retail stores,” he notes, adding that a location on Boston’s Newbury Street recently opened, and that the brand’s store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighbourhood has regular lines out front. Growth in Asia is also a key priority; the brand says it’s an underpenetrated market. Tiffany Wu was brought on as managing director for Greater China in November 2023, shortly after the IPO.
The company is expanding production, recently opening another manufacturing centre in Germany to help it scale. It’s also investing more in the closed-toe category, with styles of boots and slippers, and launched a line of bodycare products, including foot salves and bath salts, striking the wellness chord. “When you look at these buckets, we’re just getting started,” says Kahan.
Not a mausoleum, not a museum
Birkenstock recently filed a lawsuit in German courts to prevent copycats by protecting its styles via copyright. But the court ruled that the shoes are pieces of design, not art, and therefore don’t qualify under copyright law. While not the outcome the company wanted, it chimes with Reichert’s philosophy about the brand itself. “I always say, we are not a museum — we are a movement. We honour our past by staying true to our core philosophy but we are not afraid to reinterpret that through a modern lens. That’s why collaborations with brands like Dior, Manolo Blahnik and Fear of God work for us.”
Reichert invites fashion brands to Paris to its innovation hub, which he says was created in 2019 as an incubator for special projects, collaborations and Birkenstock’s premium 1774 line. “The 1774 office serves as a platform to connect our brand with the high end of the cultural zeitgeist and ensures that Birkenstock continues to be culturally relevant and globally visible,” Reichert says.
That doesn’t just mean high-profile fashion brands. Birkenstock recently collaborated with Schuh Bertl, a Munich-based shoe store, on a line of boots — one of the key growth categories it wants to break into. Other recent collaborations include one with Union, an LA and Tokyo-based boutique. Reichert says that this collaborative spirit is essential to keeping Birkenstock evolving.
“When you manage a brand with a heritage of a quarter of a millennium, you have to be careful not to end up like a mausoleum, with everything locked away. Otherwise, you will die in your own greatness. I want to keep the roof open and let in some fresh air. And this is what we do with our 1774 office in Paris — we invite influential and creative people to come and have a picnic with us.”
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