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Linz am Rhein ,
09.12.2020

Footwear News Achievement Awards: BIRKENSTOCK „Brand of the Year 2020“

Great distinction for the global lifestyle brand: Footwear News recognized the traditional company’s outstanding merits with the prestigious prize for the third time in just a few years. BIRKENSTOCK had already been selected Brand of the Year in the footwear industry in 2013 and 2017.

At this year’s award ceremony on the 8^th of December, which took place <link https: footwearnews.com c events>virtually for the first time, the leading American trade magazine acknowledged the international top position of the quality brand in 2020: BIRKENSTOCK once again found itself at the forefront of the marketplace – and the center of the zeitgeist, becoming the „official home-office shoe“. In the second quarter of this year, the brand’s Arizona sandal was the most-searched shoe in the world as fashion search engine Lyst revealed.

Despite a boost from numerous A-list celebrity fans, who posted photos of themselves wearing the sandal during lockdowns, the brand is much more than a trend but above all represents a powerful shift towards comfort fashion, according to Footwear News. The award for the brand of the year was presented by Hollywood actor Jason Momoa, who has already been a loyal member of the BIRKENSTOCK community since his teenage years. His favourite sandals with the famous orthopedic footbed have accompanied him ever after, in everyday life and all over the world.

“The number of BIRKENSTOCK fans has increased globally amid these unprecedented times. Our products stand for functionality, quality, reliability – and this is what people turn to in particular if things get uncertain. This award serves as a great reminder to concentrate on our core values, which really capture the spirit of our time”, said Oliver Reichert, CEO BIRKENSTOCK Group.

“We are thrilled to be recognized as Brand of the Year by Footwear News, and we share this award with all our valuable retail partners and our millions of brand fans around the world”, added David Kahan, CEO of BIRKENSTOCK Americas.

In fact, the Arizona sandal hasn’t been the only global top seller of the company in 2020 as more people work from home: Its Boston clog was also ranked on the second place of the most desired men’s products in the third quarter of the year according to the latest Lyst survey. The Lyst Index analyses more than eight million fashion items by volume of social media mentions, searches, page views, interactions and sales across thousands of online stores, over a three-month period.

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