Birkenstocks as a style of shoe worn by the masses seems to have started in the sixties just because of how it looks.  It’s resurgence in the eighties and nineties marked a pivotal stage in the organizations history.  Today the company offers  over 400 different styles of shoes.  They offer clogs as well.

It is most likely less known that this sixties looking sandals juggernaut had it’s start three hundred years ago in 1774 when Johann Birkenstock and other family members were busy in Germany crafting the first shoes for an incredible legacy.  Many shoes don’t make it past a decade of production.  It would be interesting to see the prototype.

It really all began when Konrad, a relative of Johann, came up with a revolutionary idea in 1884.  The first Birkenstocks were made with the idea that a shoe should take the shape of the foot of the wearer.  In the days before mass production this was a hot idea.  Of course each shoe was molded to the foot of each wearer.   The idea was short lived for mass production came along shortly and changed everything.  We all know that wasn’t the end of the for Birkenstocks.

The “footbed” was created, coined and trademarked by two family members in response to the low demand for custom made shoes.  We know it as an arch support.  This insert could be put into any shoe.  Konrad and son Carl were the heroes to keep the dream alive for the next fifty years!  These “footbed supports” carried the company on to it’s next phase.

In 1954 Konrad’s grand son Karl brought the company back to making shoes.  He was just not satisfied with making supports for people with flat feet.  His concept is the one handed down to us in the line of shoes that is so comfortable it’s sixties look is easily overlooked.  How about a shoes that makes the wearer feel as if they were barefoot.  At this time this was another explosive concept because shoes were made mainly for protecting feet and not really for it’s feel good properties.

It would take some more research to say that the idea of comfortable shoes came from the Birkenstocks but they did pull it off rather swimmingly.  After ten years of research and testing the Madrid was put on the market.  Thus marked the return of the companies’ shoe making legacy as well as a standout idea in the realm of shoemaking.

The rest is still being made into the history books.  From sandals shoes size…good day.