News Detail Press

09.04.2022

BIRKENSTOCK Stands with the People of Ukraine

Misinformation of the Yale School of Management

On April 9, 2022, it came to our attention that the Yale School of Management published a list of companies on their websites that allegedly “just keep doing business as usual in Russia”. On this list, BIRKENSTOCK was classified as “still operating in Russia”– without any reason.

Unfortunately, we were not contacted by the authors of the list prior to publication and did not have the opportunity to comment. This statement is to voice our concerns that the public and media were misled by incorrect information.

We hereby clarify: We made the business decision to end sales to Russia and terminated our contract with our distributor proactively as of December 31, 2021, hence before Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Since then, our (former) distribution partner for this region has not received any products from us. We have also not held any talks with new potential distribution partners since then. Moreover, we neither directly provide Russian customers with our products, nor through our own web shop or in any other way and have never done so in the past.

Furthermore, we have never operated any facilities, sales organizations or own stores in Russia even before the beginning of the tragic situation in Ukraine. In addition, we do not have and never had any direct or indirect shareholdings in Russian companies. And we do not and never have sourced products, raw material or semi-finished goods produced in Russia.

As an orthopedic functional brand deeply rooted in science, we are a strong advocate of scientific research, free expression of opinion and independent journalism. While we share the concerns of the authors at the Yale School of Management about the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, we cannot accept that, contrary to all facts, our company is accused of allegedly continuing to operate in Russia, deliberately deceiving millions of consumers and BIRKENSTOCK fans around the world, and thereby condoning significant damage to our reputation.

Birkenstock stands with the people of Ukraine.

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At our urging, the Yale School of Management promptly corrected the misstatement and removed BIRKENSTOCK from the list on April 10, 2022.

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