Berkemann
Berkemann GmbH & Co. KG is a manufacturer of comfortable and health shoes as well as products for foot health. Founded in Hamburg in 1885 by the shoemaker Heinrich Adolf Berkemann, the company was originally a shoe manufacturer and orthopedic company. The company's headquarters have been in Zeulenroda-Triebes (Thuringia) since 2005 .
history
On July 8, 1885, Heinrich Adolf Berkemann founded the Berkemann company in Hamburg and began to manufacture suitable, comfortable shoes. In 1903 he produced the first industrially manufactured and mass-produced orthopedic insole and presented it at the Hamburg shoemaker exhibition.
After Heinrich Adolf Berkemann's death, Walter and Hans Berkemann took over their father's company in 1923 and made it a successful manufacturer of health shoes and orthopedic aids. From 1932 the monthly company newspaper "Brücke" was published (which was published until May 1997) and the company headquarters moved to a seven-story office and factory building in Hamburg's Gerhofstrasse.
In 1955, Berkemann became known for the foot gymnastics sandal developed by Wilhelm Thomsen , a simple sandal with a wooden sole on which the foot is only held by a cross strap that is stretched over the metatarsophalangeal joints. The sandal has an anatomically shaped, functionally orthopedically optimized footbed that is modeled on the human foot.
In 1964 the company launched the Toeffler , a wooden clog with a thick wooden sole that is closed at the toes. When clogs became especially fashionable in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Toeffler became a bestseller and the company expanded. Due to the success of the Berkemann foot gymnastics sandals and the Toeffler , a plant in Steinalben (Rhineland-Palatinate) and other production facilities, including in Austria and Latin America, were established in 1970 .
When the clog trend subsided in the 1990s, the family business had to be sold. In 1994 Berkemann was incorporated into the Bauerfeind Group by Bauerfeind AG in Zeulenroda-Triebes - a leading manufacturer of bandages and therapeutic aids. The Berkemann orthopedics division was renamed Bauerfeind Fußorthopädie and is based in Remscheid . In 1995, the Berkemann shoe division in Hungary acquired its own factory.
At the beginning of 2004, Berkemann introduced the Berkilette , a modernized version of the gymnastic sandal . In contrast to the original model, it has lighter wood, new foot straps and additional cushioning; thanks to further technical developments and new materials. Berkemann was the official outfitter for the German Olympic teams at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
In October 2007, Berkemann moved into its own new company premises in Greizer Strasse in Zeulenroda-Triebes as an independent company. Due to the increasing number of employees, the company relocated its headquarters to an old furniture manufacturer's villa on Albin-May-Straße at the beginning of 2011.
Berkemann has been organizing an annual comfort shoe symposium since 2012 with the intention of giving the comfort shoe industry a platform for communication, further training and exchange with one another.
