SoftBank Group Corp.’s semiconductor designer Arm, grocery delivery firm Instacart Inc. and marketing and data automation provider Klaviyo Inc. Founded nearly 250 years ago, Birkenstock developed a contoured insole for greater comfort.
The modern, cork-lined sandals took hold in the 1970s, as shoppers from the US Southwest to Europe became enamored with the comfy style. Birkenstock has since become a high-fashion brand, launching collaborations with luxury names such as Dior, Manolo Blahnik and Valentino, and spawning variants from labels including Celine and Givenchy. More than half — 54% — of the company’s customers are in the Americas with Europe accounting for 36%, according to Tuesday’s filing.
While women make up 72% of Birkenstock customers, the footwear has broad cross-generational appeal, led by millennials with 31% of sales, followed by baby boomers with 30%, Gen X with 27% and Gen Z with 12%. A listing would cap off a successful run for the company, whose family heirs stepped back from management duties about a decade ago. Since then, it’s streamlined strategy, launched high-profile collaborations and experienced explosive growth in demand.
“We see ourselves as the oldest startup on earth," Chief Executive Officer Oliver Reichert said in a letter to investors included in the filing. “We are a brand backed by a family tradition of a quarter of a millennium with the resilience, timeless relevance, and credibility of a multi-generational business." Sales have been boosted of late by the blockbuster Barbie movie, whose star Margot Robbie sports a pair of pink Birkenstocks in one scene. For the six months ended March 31, the company had a net profit of €40 million on revenue of €644 million, according to the
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