Not many companies can claim to have been around for 250 years, but Birkenstock is doing just that, tracing its history back to 1774, when it was founded by Johann Adam Birkenstock.
A new book, The Book of Birkenstock, has débuted to celebrate the milestone, as has a new digital encyclopædia, a curated book Old Mills Never Die, and a travelling photo exhibition, Walk This Way.
An event was held on September 28 in Bengaluru to mark the anniversary, showing, inter alia, archival images, tools, materials, latest collections, and selected pieces from the Birkenstock 1774 collection.
The Book of Birkenstock is a 688 pp. volume designed by Bureau Borsche of München and co-published by Steidl of Göttingen. It features never-before-seen archival materials, including first advertisements, editorials, and marketing materials from private estates and public archives.
The encyclopædia features 600 archival images, including editorial content, VIP sightings, movie materials, and more. The platform goes live in India later in the year.
The Walk This Way exhibition by Henry Leutwyler made it to Bengaluru for the celebration, too. There was also the Birkenstock Hourglass exhibition, which showed the company’s historical journey and its first footwear models, tools, documents, and collaborations.
Steve Jobs’s original Birkenstock Arizona sandals also went on display as part of the celebration.