BIRKENSTOCK is a success story made in Germany. The family's history as shoemakers can be traced back to to 1774. According to the parish records of the town of Langenbergheim in the state of Hesse in Germany, Johann Adam Birkenstock is mentioned as being a "subject and cobbler“. Roughly 120 years later, in 1896, Konrad Birkenstock opened two specialist shops for shoes and started producing shoe soles in Frankfurt am Main. In 1963, the first sandals were introduced and they took the world by storm: the famous model "Madrid". In 1982, five further thong sandal models followed. Over the years the range of sandals has grown to its current number of 800. BIRKENSTOCK has been a global player for the past 40 years. The finished products, which are mainly manufactured in Germany, are sold in over 80 countries. The company's headquarters are located in Neustadt (Wied), with seven locations in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, and Saxony and a worldwide workforce of 2,500.
