The renowned Georg von Holtzbrinck School of Business Journalism and BIRKENSTOCK have a lot in common – quality education and training, the high aspiration of being one of the best in their respective fields, and the ability to have produced proof of this for years. It therefore made perfect sense for BIRKENSTOCK to invite the school’s current set of trainees to take a peek behind the scenes to offer them an insight into the day-to-day activities and the latest developments within the long-standing German company.

As part of their weeklong training focus on family-owned enterprises, eleven young business journalists visited the St. Katharinen plant and subsequently had the opportunity to hold an in-depth informal discussion with CEO Oliver Reichert at the head office in Rahms.

Following an hour-long tour of the production plant in St. Katharinen, the Holtzbrinck trainees were even able to make their very own sandals featuring the famous footbed and corresponding upper materials. This resulted in eleven exclusive pairs of Arizonas and Madrids being handcrafted under the expert supervision of our employees. Each individual step was explained to the trainees, was more or less understood, and was then executed by them single-handedly.

“The tour of the plant was fantastic. It was really interesting to see the individual steps so clearly, from the handcraftsmanship to the automated steps,” reports the budding business journalist Mareike Müller.

Following the plant visit, BIRKENSTOCK CEO Oliver Reichert answered the Holtzbrinck trainees’ questions and explained BIRKENSTOCK’s strategies and the secret to its success. In the process, he, too, learned a great deal about how the young journalists’ got into their profession, their understanding of media relations and the future focus of this, and the image and public perception of BIRKENSTOCK. The topics covered ranged from sustainability within production, labor conditions, and workplace codetermination to planned and implemented innovations and BIRKENSTOCK’s global focus.

The Georg von <link http: www.holtzbrinck-schule.de>Holtzbrinck School of Business Journalism in Düsseldorf is an institution of the Handelsblatt Media Group. It has been considered the leading education and training institution for business journalists in Germany for more than 30 years. The trainees are trained up to work on the Handelsblatt Media Group’s quality business publications, such as the daily paper Handelsblatt and the weekly magazine WirtschaftsWoche. It also offers ongoing training for editors for them to maintain the high standards of reputable and high-quality business journalism. Many of the school’s graduates now have leading positions within German and international media companies.