News Detail Press

Neustadt (Wied)/New York ,
02.03.2018

Footwear Plus Awards 2017: BIRKENSTOCK wins in two categories

BIRKENSTOCK receives award as Brand of the Year and wins category for Excellence in Design Sandals for the second time in succession. The annual Plus Awards are the only accolades determined by the votes of industry members and consumers.

Today the Footwear Plus magazine announced the winners of the 19th annual Plus Awards. As in the previous year, BIRKENSTOCK has been awarded twice: this time Germany’s original global comfort shoe brand has been named as “Brand of the Year” and for the second consecutive year has won the award for “Excellence in Design Sandals”. Created by Footwear Plus, the industry's leading fashion trade magazine for nearly 30 years, the annual Plus Awards are the only accolades determined by the votes of industry members and consumers. The winners are determined by thousands of online voters within and outside the industry who could place online votes from November 29 to December 31, 2017. The prizes are co-sponsored by the Fashion Footwear Association of New York (FFANY) and Jones & Vining.

“We are proud to be recognized with not one, but two Plus Awards – especially Brand of the Year. To be recognized by the industry for what we are accomplishing is very satisfying. In the year ahead, we will take Birkenstock to an even higher level as we focus on serving our retail partners and our consumers with more innovative product and great service,” said David Kahan, BIRKENSTOCK Americas CEO.

“Congratulations to Birkenstock on winning the Plus Award for excellence in the Sandals and prestigious Brand of the Year categories,” said Greg Dutter, Editorial Director of Footwear Plus. “The legendary brand continued to fire on all cylinders in 2017: offering exciting designs and innovative retail concepts as well as positioning itself for solid growth in the years ahead. In a time of great industry upheaval, BIRKENSTOCK has been a brand its retail partners can bank on,” added Greg Dutter, Footwear Plus Editorial Director.

BIRKENSTOCK has already been honored with six Plus Awards in total, including the recent accolades. The category “Excellence in Design Women’s Comfort” for instance, was granted to the German heritage brand for the three years in a row from 2014 to 2016.

The award-winning Footwear Plus magazine is the leading B-2-B fashion publication of the footwear industry. In a world of instant messages, texting, daily e-mail blasts, junk mail, 24-hour news outlets and tickers across the bottom of countless TV channels, Footwear Plus is commonly being valued as a magazine in the truest sense of the format: in-depth, comprehensive and analytical, not to mention beautiful. Industry leaders rely on Footwear Plus to educate, inform, provoke and inspire.

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