News Detail Press

Cologne ,
04.11.2019

BIRKENSTOCK switching to direct sales in Switzerland

Plans for own retail presence and partner-based retail space concepts emphasize the company’s ambitions in this market // Direct market presence promises further growth for retail partners and the company

After 30 years of BIRKENSTOCK being represented in Switzerland by Frey Orthopädie-Bedarf AG as its distributor there, the company has now decided to assume direct responsibility for sales within this market as of December 1, 2019, for strategic reasons. This direct market presence will allow the portfolio to be significantly expanded for retail partners and end customers in Switzerland, thus making BIRKENSTOCK even more accessible as a multifaceted, year-round, premium lifestyle brand. At the same time, greater alignment of the product portfolio with the local market needs will result in additional growth opportunities both for the company and its retail partners in Switzerland.

“We would very much like to thank Frey Orthopädie-Bedarf AG for our exceptionally good and successful collaboration over the past decades. Even during hard times, they represented us as a first-class distributor. However, BIRKENSTOCK has decided to start a new chapter by handling its sales directly in order to further intensify our relations with our retail partners at the local level and to further embed the brand’s entire range in Switzerland. At the same time, we intend to give our growth ambitions in the market a boost very soon with our own retail presence there as well as partner-based retail space concepts in the country’s main conurbations,” says Michael Schmitz, Managing Director, Europe, at BIRKENSTOCK.

This will not result in any changes for our retail partners during the current ordering season. Preorders for the spring/summer 2020 season can continue to be placed with Frey Orthopädie-Bedarf AG and will also be delivered by them. BIRKENSTOCK will not assume complete control of preorders and order deliveries until the fall/winter 2020 season.

Resellers can therefore continue to contact Frey Orthopädie-Bedarf AG to clarify any specific issues relating to current orders at:

Frey Orthopädie-Bedarf AG

Panoramaweg 35

5504 Othmarsingen (Switzerland)

Phone: +41-62-887-4500

At BIRKENSTOCK, Swiss resellers can contact Raphael Grimm, Country Manager, Switzerland, from December 1, 2019. Footwear reseller appointments can be arranged using these contact details:

E-mail: raphael.grimm@birkenstock.com

Cell phone: +41-794-052-610

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