STYLE
Birkenstock.
By Jonathan Campbell
Over the centuries, the company has built up a wealth of experience that it has passed down from one generation to the next. This is why Birkenstock are such a success, because it is rooted in its commitment to the art of making orthopedically inspired shoes […]
My cousin Suzy went to Italy in the early 90s for a holiday. She didn’t come back for over ten years.
Once she’d established herself with a tiny apartment in Rome, I went for a visit. I was going through a pretty heavy Paul Smith phase at the time and was delighted to have the opportunity to promenade through Rome in clothes from one of the UK’s best designers. My PS outfits included a beautiful pair of leather-soled sandals. Suzy took one look at my fine sandals and said, “you’ll cripple yourself on the streets of Rome in those. You need a pair of Birkenstocks.” I’d never heard of them.
She took me off to a small shop somewhere near Campo de’ Fiori. The shop had medical diagrams on the walls and those plastic skeletons used in laboratories.
The staff wore white coats. Fitting the shoes was a very serious affair, involving much consultation and gesticulating in Italian. This is why Birkenstock are such a success, because it is rooted in its commitment to the art of making orthopedically inspired shoes.
Over the centuries, the company has built up a wealth of experience that it has passed down from one generation to the next. Feeling like my feet had had a thorough examination and confident that these odd-looking shoes were both comfortable and quite cool, I bought a pair of tan suede Milanos. Walking all day on those cobbled Roman streets, they performed perfectly. I came back to Britain a complete convert.
Today I have way too many pairs, including the “Boston" clogs and “Maine” shoes. In fact, twenty years after that trip to Rome, my three kids and I marched around Paris in white Birkenstock Arizonas and the Parisian’s went mad for them. A few years after that, a famous Parisian named Bernard Arnault – owner of the fashion giant LVMH – bought the Birkenstock company, turning the ugly, comfortable cool shoe into a fashion icon.
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