Object of the Week

How the $48,000 “Birkinstock” Became the Ultimate Consumer Culture Troll

The story of a hippie sandal, a six-figure handbag, private equity, and a very mischievous art collective

Rob Walker
Marker
Published in
4 min readFeb 11, 2021

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A Birkinstock sandal, with the straps made of recycled Birkin bags, below the text “Object of the Week”.
Credit: MSCHF

Object of the Week is a new column exploring the objects a culture obsesses over and what that reveals about us.

Birkenstocks, “fashion’s original ugly shoe,” as the Business of Fashion put it the other day, are having a moment. A pretty weird moment, actually, that has somehow caused the brand to stumble into the realm of high luxury.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the maker of the hippie-dippie casual-culture icon was in talks to be acquired by L Catterton, a private equity firm backed by lux mega-business LVMH. The talks value Birkenstock in the neighborhood of $5 billion.

But the real news came the next day when Birkenstock — completely against its will — became entangled in the most amusing and high-profile consumer culture art prank of the year so far: the debut of the limited-edition “Birkinstock.” This is a sandal with a traditional Birkenstock silhouette, but made out of the remnants of willfully destroyed super-expensive Hermès Birkin bags. Perhaps you heard that rapper Future obtained a pair

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Marker
Marker

Published in Marker

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Rob Walker
Rob Walker

Written by Rob Walker

Author The Art of Noticing. Related newsletter at https://robwalker.substack.com