News Detail Press

07.10.2016

BIRKENSTOCK IS EXPANDING ITS PRODUCTION SITE IN GÖRLITZ

BIRKENSTOCK is preparing for further growth at its production site in Görlitz.

BIRKENSTOCK’s largest location in the world continues to grow
Adjacent property purchased in the Ebersbach industrial park
Creation of additional rooms for employees to take breaks and socialize as well as new parking spaces

BIRKENSTOCK is preparing for further growth at its production site in Görlitz. In this context, Germany’s largest shoe manufacturer has acquired a property with a production hall adjacent to its existing premises in the Ebersbach industrial park. To company plans to create 200 additional parking spaces on the 17,660-square-meter property by the end of the year. In addition, the company will add additional rooms for employees to take breaks and socialize. New plans regarding the use of the acquired production hall, which is currently leased to an external company, will be drawn up in the coming weeks. The plans include opening a factory outlet on the site.

Project planning for the new parking spaces is already underway, and construction could begin as early as the beginning of November. As such, the parking spaces could be completed before Christmas, weather permitting. The preparations for expanding the spaces for employees to take breaks and socialize are also in full swing. This project will be kicked off at the end of October. The structural work should be completed by March 2017, with construction fully completed by the end of September 2017. Further investments in expanding the site will follow. As in the previous year, an investment valued in the high two-digit million euros has been budgeted for this purpose.

BIRKENSTOCK operates two production sites in the German state of Saxony – one in Görlitz and another in Bernstadt. ALSA GmbH in Görlitz is by far the BIRKENSTOCK Group’s largest location, and not only in Saxony, but worldwide. Nearly one out of every three of the long-established, family-run company’s 3,600 employees now works in Görlitz. Thanks to its size, convenient location, and the site’s potential for further development, the production facility in Görlitz has particularly benefited from the group’s dynamic growth – BIRKENSTOCK has nearly doubled its production since early 2013. Recently, further expansion at the Görlitz location had increasingly been limited by a lack of space. By acquiring the neighboring property, however, the company has now paved the way for further growth. It plans to fill a number of open positions in the coming weeks. The company is primarily looking for qualified skilled technicians, such as mechatronics engineers, metal workers, and electrical engineers.

BIRKENSTOCK is now one of the largest private employers in the Upper Lusatia region of Germany (Oberlausitz in German). As a result of BIRKENSTOCK’s rapid growth, eastern Saxony has developed into a center of the German and European shoe industry – a development which has gone largely unnoticed by the general public. Approximately 11,600 people work in the industry in Germany, including 1,800 employees at BIRKENSTOCK’s two locations in Saxony. As such, today nearly one out of every six of the industry’s employees works at one of BIRKENSTOCK’s locations in Saxony.

Press contact

Jochen Gutzy
Chief Communications Officer

Birkenstock Group B.V. & Co. KG
Burg Ockenfels
53545 Linz

Postal address:
Sedanstraße 4
D-50668 Köln

E-mail:mediabirkenstockcom

About BIRKENSTOCK

BIRKENSTOCK is a global brand which embraces all consumers regardless of geography, gender, age and income and which is committed to a clear purpose - maintaining foot health. Deeply rooted in studies of the biomechanics of the human foot and footed on a family tradition of shoemaking that can be traced back to 1774, BIRKENSTOCK is a timeless «super brand» with a brand universe that transcends product categories and ranges from entry-level to luxury price points while addressing the growing need for a conscious and active lifestyle. Function, quality and tradition are the core values of the lifestyle brand which features products in the footwear, sleep systems and natural cosmetics segments. BIRKENSTOCK is the inventor of the footbed and has shaped the principle of walking as intended by nature (“Naturgewolltes Gehen”).

With around 6,200 employees worldwide, we believe how things are made matters as much as the product itself. To ensure these quality standards, we operate a vertically integrated manufacturing base and produce all our footbeds in Germany. In addition, we assemble over 95% of our products in Germany and we source over 90% of our materials and components from Europe. We process our inputs to the highest environmental and social standards in the industry by operating state-of-the-art scientific laboratories for materials testing.

BIRKENSTOCK runs operational sites in Germany, in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Bavaria, Saxony, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Headquartered in Linz am Rhein, the BIRKENSTOCK Group also operates its own sales offices in the United States and Canada as well as in Brazil, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Dubai, Singapore and India.

Birkenstock Group B.V. & Co. KG Burg Ockenfels,
Linz am Rhein, Germany

You can find our online shop at www.birkenstock.com