In an interview with the The Cut, Birkenstock CEO Olivier Reichert went into detail about Birkenstock’s talks to collaborate with streetwear titan Supreme and French “design collective” Vetements. Bottom line: hard pass. “There’s no benefit for us except prostitution because this is just prostitution,” he answered The Cut’s critic-at-large Cathy Horyn in a profile on the company.
This wasn’t the only bold statement that came out from Oliver’s mouth on this profile; He also spoke his mind on what he thought of fashion as an industry and why the brand is beyond fashion itself.
“I don’t give a shit about fashion. Fashion is, pfffttt, what is fashion? Inditex [owner of Zara] is doing fashion 12 times a year. What is this nonsense? But I know people are hungry for pure things. And there’s a huge crowd of people heavily believing in and loving this brand. And it’s not because of the nice people working there, because there are no nice people. And it’s not because of the marketing, because there’s no marketing. There’s nothing.”
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The Cut reached out to Vetements on why the Birkenstock collaboration didn’t push through; they shared that they just wanted to work with Birkenstock because their shoes are comfortable. This led to Oliver’s approval for their marketing team to reopen discussions with Vetements.
What do collaborations mean when brands just slap a logo on existing products? For brands like Birkenstock and more, it may mean something not entirely simple, but something more…thought-out. Like pony hair on the straps.
Read more on The Cut’s profile on Oliver Reichert, click here.
Does the CEO have BDE or is he only talking big? @ us @scoutmagph
Photo from Birkenstock website