Yesterday, Birkenstock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time in its 249-year history, and we saw the cork-soled sandal manufacturer hit a market capitalization in the billions — $7.5 billion to be exact.
While 12.6% short of its valuation, it’s a testament to how popular the German label has become. If you’d told any fashion-conscious person that the purveyor of frumpy sandals would be worth that much 15 years ago, you’d no doubt have been met with laughter.
Once a cardinal fashion sin, loved only by those willing to trade foot support with style, the brand’s image has taken a full 360. This is proven not only by its billion-dollar valuation yesterday, but also by the LYST Index — a quarterly report that tracks online shopping behavior — released on the same day.
The third quarter of 2023 saw the Arizona sandal sitting in the fifth spot of the 10 hottest products, marking the third time that model itself has been listed in the top 10 and the eighth time a Birkenstock item has made the cut.
For this quarter, LYST pointed towards the Barbie Movie as the culprit for rising interest, with the brand’s feature in the viral blockbuster causing a 110% increase in searches for Birkenstock Bostons in the 48 hours following its release. This clever product placement might have influenced searches in the short term but it’s a larger, continued PR effort that continues to shine Birkenstock in a new light.
According to LYST, searches for the brand are up 48% in the last year and a big part of this is thanks to its collaborations.
While we’ve moaned in the past about being fatigued by the number of fashion collaborations that get released (you honestly can’t go a day without a new link-up between two brands being announced), Birkenstock is proof that they work.
A quick browse over our news feed in the past five months shows that the brand has collaborated with Dior, Fear of God, Balenciaga, and The Row most recently — many of whom are frequent…
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