Birkenstock is collaborating with Rick Owens for 2018’s first ugly-chic shoe
Words by Tara Smith
Reinventing the Birk.
In a collaboration that nobody saw coming, Rick Owens has teamed up with Birkenstock for 2018’s first ugly-chic shoe.
Birkenstock, a brand that has polarised people for millennia, partnered with the Paris-based designer as part of its travelling mobile pop-up series ‘The Box’.
The humble Birk has been reinterpreted in four different fabrications, including felt, pony hair and full-grain leather.
It marks the first time the German footwear brand has invited a designer to collaborate on its pop-up retail space.
“Just a fashion designer would be less relevant,” Birkenstock Chief Executive, Oliver Reichert, told Business of Fashion.
“Rick Owens, however, is different. We collaborated in architecture, design and fashion.”
After the conclusion of a longstanding partnership with adidas, Owens told BoF he agreed with Birkenstock’s values and its “steady longevity and personal well-being”.
The styles will be available for pre-order March 1, and can be purchased online at Rick Owens and Birkenstock from March 15.
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