Birkenstock
| Birkenstock GmbH & Co. KG
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1774 |
| Seat |
 Linz on the Rhine
|
| management | Oliver Reichert, Markus Bensberg |
| Number of employees | 3800 (worldwide) |
| sales | 648.3 million euros (2017/18) |
| Branch | Shoe industry |
| Website | http://www.birkenstock-group.com |
The Birkenstock GmbH & Co. KG is a German shoe manufacturer based in Linz am Rhein. The company is represented internationally with the shoe brand of the same name. "Birkenstock" is a registered trademark of Birkenstock Sales GmbH in Vettelschoss .
history
The history of the “shoemaker dynasty” Birkenstock can be traced back to 1774 with the mention of the master shoemaker Johann Adam Birkenstock in the small Hessian town of Langen-Bergheim . In 1896 Konrad Birkenstock opened two shoe stores in Frankfurt am Main and began to manufacture footbed insoles. In 1925 Konrad Birkenstock acquired a large factory in Friedberg (Hessen) , which he expanded further. The so-called "blue footbed" invented by him, which adapts to the movements and the shape of the foot of the wearer and was an innovation around 1930, is also sold to Austria, France, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and delivered to Switzerland.
A grandson of Konrad Birkenstock, Carl Birkenstock, carried on the idea of his grandfather and improvements made by his father Karl Birkenstock at the new headquarters in Bad Honnef near Bonn after 1945 by making the flexible cork insert into the firm inner sole of shoes. In 1964 the first model of the “Birkenstock sandals”, the “Birkenstock footbed sandals”, later “ gymnastics sandals ”, today the “Madrid” model, which has not changed much, was launched and laid the foundation for the company's expansion since the 1970s.
The rapid expansion of the model range (i.e. other sandal tops based on the basic type of Birkenstock footbed with rubber outsoles) initially met with little response: only a few specialist shoe retailers added Birkenstock to their range.
Successes emerged when doctors and members of the nursing professions, who around 1970 from conventional footwear v. a. had switched to wooden and leather sandals or clogs , which discovered even more unconventional Birkenstocks and Birkenstock began to market by mail. As early as the late 1960s, the hippie movement in the USA discovered the sandals, built by the German-American Margot Fraser, who started sales in California in 1966, and later the company Birkenstock USA in the largest market for Birkenstock since the 1980s . In Germany, Birkenstock sandals became popular in the 1980s, first in care professions and in the alternative and peace movement, then also in "middle-class" households as slippers and casual shoes.
Birkenstock also continued to develop in terms of products: in 1973 the "Arizona" sandal was launched, and in 1977 the "Boston" model. Both shoes are still among the most popular and successful Birkenstock classics today. In 1982 Birkenstock brought out its first thong sandal .
Restructuring in 2013
On October 1, 2013, the company, which to date consisted of 38 individual companies, was fundamentally restructured into one group, the Birkenstock Group. The group unites these companies in three business areas: production, sales and services. The group was managed for the first time by a management team that did not come from the Birkenstock family.
Birkenstock GmbH & Co. KG as a holding company now holds 100% of the shares in Birkenstock Sales GmbH (emerged from Birkenstock Orthopädie GmbH & Co. KG and its general partner GmbH) and Birkenstock Productions GmbH, which in turn arose from part of the production companies is. Furthermore, Birkenstock GmbH & Co. KG has two branches, Birkenstock GmbH & Co. KG Services and Birkenstock GmbH & Co. KG specialist shops.
Since the 1990s Vettelschoß has been based in northern Rhineland-Palatinate near Bad Honnef . At the beginning of 2014, the administration was relocated to the Rahms ( Neustadt (Wied) ) location around 10 km to the south on the so-called “Birkenstock Campus”. The production facilities are located in Sankt Katharinen (Rhineland-Palatinate), Bernstadt (Saxony), Görlitz (Saxony) and Steinau / Uerzell (Hesse). The logistics center is located in Vettelschoss (Rhineland-Palatinate). In 2020 the location in Rahms (Neustadt (Wied)) was given up. A good half of all jobs were relocated to the Rheinauhafen in Cologne. The administrative headquarters are now at Ockenfels Castle in Linz on the Rhine.
Cooperation with international fashion brands
In 2016, Birkenstock successfully began to look for targeted partnerships with international fashion brands that did not correspond to the familiar brand image of comfortable hippie sandals or that completely opposed them. The manufacturer produces a line exclusively for Valentino Garavani and won the actress Frances McDormand as brand ambassador, who even went on stage with a specially made pair during the 2019 Academy Awards. In addition, the company cooperated with the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Berlin in 2018 .
Controversy
Conflicts over employee representation
The group has appeared several times through resistance to independent works councils . In part, these efforts have led to legal proceedings and executive convictions. In 1993 the first works council was installed for Birko Schuhtechnik GmbH in the Sankt Katharinen plant.
At the beginning of March 2019, a works council was also elected at the largest Birkenstock location in Görlitz .
Conflict over equal pay
Until 2012, Birkenstock paid women one euro per hour less in production than men - with the same job and qualifications. Special payments such as Christmas and vacation pay were also lower. The labor court ruled that the unequal treatment was not justified. After the change in the shareholder structures in 2013, this unequal treatment was lifted and partially compensated for by wage repayments and compensation.
Conflict with online retailer Amazon
On the grounds that Amazon is not taking strong enough action against the trade in counterfeit products from Birkenstock on Amazon Marketplace, Birkenstock announced in December 2017 that it would no longer supply Amazon from January 1, 2018. “We don't need Amazon. [...] We believe that this type of distribution destroys more than it promotes. [...] Amazon treats everyone badly, ”said the managing director Oliver Reichert in an interview.
Conflict with competitors
Birkenstock defended itself in a legal dispute before the Cologne Regional Court against the imitation of shoes. In 2018, the court took the view that Birkenstock had tolerated imitators for too long. The uniqueness of the shoe models under competition law has been watered down over time.
Licensee
The shoe companies Alpro, Betula, Birki, Footprints, Papillio and Tatami are licensees of Birkenstock. These independent companies, which are owned by Karl Birkenstock's three sons, partly use Birkenstock's know-how, which is reflected, among other things, in the molded footbeds. The licensees may - depending on the quality - advertise their products with the additions "Original Birkenstock footbed" or "licensed by Birkenstock".
literature
- Friedemann Karig: A sandal goes around the world. Birkenstock sandals have never been sexy. But with the brittle charm of its cork sole, the formerly mocked health gossip now gets everyone into its soft footbed. About the amazing career of a shoe, in: Das Magazin , Tamedia , Zurich June 6, 2015. pp. 32–41 ( PDF ).
- H. Schumacher: Birkenstock: Psychological terror of the sandal manufacturer . In: WirtschaftsWoche , February 8, 1996.
- Helge Sternke: Everything about men's shoes . Nicolai, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-89479-252-7 (With a historical insight into the development of the Birkenstock company, as well as model ideas and information on the discussion of the "protection theorists" and "stress theorists").
- Silke Wichert: Let go . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung Special. December 31, 2019.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ About us: Birkenstock Group. Retrieved August 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Annual financial statements as of May 7, 2019, accessed via the E-Bundesanzeiger
- ↑ Imprint: Birkenstock Group. Retrieved August 6, 2020 .
- ↑ German Patent and Trademark Office, register number / file number 39642945.9
- ↑ a b Birkenstock: Bensberg and Reichert new top management. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; Retrieved June 29, 2015 .
- ↑ a b Birkenstock becomes a company and moves to Neustadt / Wied. Retrieved June 29, 2015 .
- ↑ Press release October 15, 2013
- ↑ Petra Steinke: Birkenstock: 200 jobs move from Rahms to Cologne. Retrieved on August 6, 2020 (German).
- ↑ Article in Vogue .
- ↑ Advertise & Sell: KPM Berlin and Birkenstock present porcelain sandals | W&V. May 18, 2018, accessed October 16, 2019 .
- ^ Roland Kirbach: War at work . The time . S. 6. May 17, 1996. Archived from the original on June 14, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
- ↑ Largest Birkenstock location now with works council - IG Metall - accessed on July 17, 2020
- ↑ Lukas Koschnitzke: Birkenstock paid women one euro less , Spiegel Online , March 7, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
- ↑ Birkenstock messes with Amazon: reference to trademark violations orf.at, December 10, 2017, accessed December 11, 2017.
- ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Magazin, October 2019, p. 75.
- ↑ Competition: Mitscherlich wins for Birkenstock competitor. JUVE, November 2, 2018, accessed November 5, 2018 .