Delineation: A Deeper Dive Into Birkenstock’s Separation from the Pack 

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pictured above is Maya Wasowicz – In her coach’s opinion, Maya Wasowicz is one of the ten best karate fighters in the world. When the Polish-born athlete moved to New York at the age of eleven, she did not speak a single word of English. Her passion for sports introduced her to karate. Here, she could express herself perfectly. We talked to the Pan-American champion, who was also third in the World Championships, about her unusual career and why the 27-year-old likes to wear BIRKENSTOCKs during victory ceremonies.

In order to continue my look into why Birkenstock’s “rise” in popularity and shift into traditional sneaker stores like FootLocker and Hibbett Sports, is different from the recent growth of new category entries into mainstream sneaker stores like UGG and CROCS, I needed to try and look behind the curtain. What I found was not the investment by LVMH as the factor in growth, but the simplest forms of improvement, consistency. Using sport as the foundation for this discussion, I wanted to lead with a picture of Maya Wasowicz. Like Charlie Strong, Maya is not endorsed by Birks. I tracked down David Kahan the CEO of Birkenstock America to ask a number of questions. One of the first was,

Are all of the recent IG pics of entertainers and athletes rocking Birkenstock was product placement and endorsements?

His answer was emphatic:

We have NO paid endorsers. None. So even Coach Strong is the REAL deal… he became known for wearing them and we didnt send him pairs or any endorsement deal – its organic, its natural.  Kanye posed for GQ, he wore HIS OWN Birkenstock Boston’s for the photo shoot. Same with Justin Bieber.

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Kanye West in Calabassas, January 10, 2020.Backgrid picture via GQ https://www.gq.com/story/kanye-west-birkenstocks

I continued with my questions, but in order to make this series work, I needed to find information on why Birkenstock was showing up not only in mainstream sneaker stores, but also in local running shops. Finding the story on Maya helped explain, but digging even deeper delivered an answer that allowed for me to explain the word of the day, Delineation. When I saw Run, Birkenstock, Repeat, I thought the brand was about to develop a running shoe. What I discovered was David was staying ahead of the curve. CEO’s who understand that explosive growth looks good, but can be problematic, don’t look for the next trend, they look to the past to monitor why spikes happen for companies. David found that information in a 90’s spike in popularity for Birkenstock. The person who explained that spike was the man who led the charge for Hoka One One’s amazing growth, James Van Dine. James owns a consulting firm now. I needed to look at James’ history for clarification. Here is what I found:

James has been in footwear since 1979 with brands such as Reebok, Teva, Simple, UGG, Vans, Keen, Ahnu, Tsubo and Hoka. He started as a sales associate in a running store, held many wholesale positions and eventually became a co-founder of Keen and Ahnu and practically so with Hoka. He took over management of that brand when global revenue was a little over $2M and left at just under $100M 4 years later.

?@the_constantine_lens
Kelis in Hoka One One

How Does Karate, Running and Sport Translate to Birks?

James connected a lot of dots for me, but the amount of questions deserves its own post. The most important question I asked was how he and David coordinated to look at pushing beyond the hype of collabs and fashion to recenter the brand on its history by looking at the spikes for Birks? I also asked if he was aware that Birks had done what I thought would never happen in adding the African-American demographic. James’ Answer:

Birkenstock has enjoyed teen and post sport usage before as it was a popular after sport (especially soccer) option in the 90’s – primarily in California.  So it is not unheard of, though the multi gender and racial adoption is broader this time around.  I believe that the comfort and orthopedic value of the product are what allows Birkenstock to continually re-surface over the years after periods of decline.  I also believe that the brand has finally reached an awareness and acceptance level that will prevent any future declines of any significance.
I continued my questions, but I don’t want this to run for too long. I’m going to wrap this section up with an anecdote. The importance of separation is evident in sport. In football A running back who has breakaway speed changes the game in one play. A basketball player with the ability to elevate an inch higher can make crucial plays. Just as important as the ability to separate is the ability to remain consistent. Unfortunately, in the footwear industry, nothing is consistent.
Covid and quarantine created a huge demand for comfort footwear. Covid also created a hidden issue. My sister-in-law had to get a walking boot as she started to walk around more after quarantine. I looked up information on this phenomena that is becoming known as “quarantine foot” (it’s not actually being called quarantine foot… I just created that. If you see it anywhere, I said it first, lol). I found a post from Cedar Sinai: https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/what-quarantine-is-doing-to-your-feet.html
“Walking around barefoot, with socks or house slippers can put you at increased risk for foot problems, including plantar fasciitis, tendinitis and metatarsalgia.”
This has been a constant discussion from Chiappetta Shoes’ Anthony Chiappetta. He has been a thought leader in discussing foot issues. As a podiatrist, his information has been crucial in better understanding foot issues. I’ve been able to speak with him about shoe inserts and correct footwear. His store carries Birkenstock. It’s not a running shop, but it’s an independent shoe store. Which aligns with Birkenstock’s recent foray into specialty running. Let me go back a bit. My sister is one of many people who incurred foot fractures from the sedentary nature of staying home. As much as barefoot running and natural foot movement is touted, too much freedom from footwear can lead to a host of issues.
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Digging into what I now understand isn’t a pivot, but a tie into history for Birkenstock gives me a better understanding of Run, Birkenstock, Repeat. It also gives me a chance to close this section out with the word of the day, Delineation. I thought Birks were just jumping into the water of collabs. I know CROCS is seeing a spike as well, but I did a quick search test. Using Hypebeast, I looked up both Birk and Croc. What I found is interesting. The first post on CROCS for Hypebeast was in 2018. CROCS intentionally saught to crossover into fashion. They aligned with Balenciaga and did a collab with Post Malone. Birkenstock, however, first shows up on Hypebeast in April of 2008. Hypebeast was founded in 2004. Sneaker and street culture had begun to be pushed around that time. Those ebbs and flows, spikes in the history of the brand have been overlooked. The tie in to fashion and music for that matter has always been there for Birks. Utilizing research from Van Dine has cemented for me why Birkenstock consistency is much more powerful than that extra inch of jumping ability is for those playing in the waters of fashion.
Stay tuned for a Q&A with James Van Dine in the final follow up in this series.

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