birkenstock - brikenstock

Birkenstock is a German brand of sandals and other shoes, famous for their contoured "footbeds," which are supposed to match the shape of their wearers' feet.
The brand has a long history tracing its roots back to 1774 and a German cobbler named Johann Birkenstock. But it was over a hundred years later that this "founder's" grandson really started the current company. In 1897, Konrad Birkenstock designed the first shoe with a contoured insole. Since 1966, when U.S. citizen Margot Fraser founded her trading company Birkenstock Footprint Sandals, Inc. in Novato, California, these shoes have been sold in the USA.
Since the 1980s, a high percentage of medical professionals (e.g. dentists, nurses) in Germany are wearing Birkenstock shoes or sandals during their service. Furthermore, these sandals are often used as domestic slippers. The brand has become associated with lesbians, hippies and especially neo-hippies on the one side, but (especially in Germany and Austria) also with housewives on the other side.
In the recent years Birkenstocks have become a part of everyday fashion from professionals, to blue collar workers, even to the entertainment industry. Heidi Klum designs footwear for Birkenstock and wears them as well.
Birkenstock produces shoes under other brand names: Betula, Tatami, Birki, and Footprints.

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