Not far from the historical centre of Görlitz, Germany, with its sleepy-eyed dormer windowed rooftops, is the factory where Birkenstock manufactures its famous cork footbeds.
A humming hub of activity, where the sustainably harvested material is compressed, cut and shaped, the facility is the focus of the brand’s local legacy and centuries of innovation in the realm of comfort-conscious footwear.
Lately, there’s also a lot of hometown pride for Birkenstock’s fashion collaborations with the likes of Manolo Blahnik and Rick Owens. For the brand, the goal of these designer moments is cultural relevance and placing their shoes in new, unexpected contexts.
Its chief product officer, Markus Baum, is quick to note that these styles are distinguishable from the glut of sartorial mash-ups that have become all too ubiquitous in the fashion industry over the past decade – partnerships that often feel more like cash grabs than genuine meetings of creative minds. “Fashion came to us,” he says.
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