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Peep Shoe
Birkenstock kicks a hippie image, but not hippie values, with a stylish
new line of sustainable shoes by Yves Béhar.
By Kristi Cameron
The Metropolis Observed
July 2003
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In addition to the traditional cork footbed, shoes in Birkenstock's new
Architect Collection have a suede liner (below, black), an EVA cushion at the
toe (below, orange), and a TechnoGel heelpad (below, translucent). Windows in the sole (above)
make much of the construction visible from the outside.
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Top, Hunter Freeman, courtesy Birkenstock; bottom, Fuseproject
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Offsite:
Birkenstock Architect Collection,
www.footprints architect.com;
Fuseproject,
www.fuseproject.com; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
exhibition Design Afoot: Athletic Shoes 1995--2000,
http://www.sfmoma.org/ exhibitions/ exhib_detail/ 00_exhib_design_afoot.html |
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The collaboration between high-tech industrial-design firm Fuseproject
and highly traditional shoe manufacturer Birkenstock USA might not seem
natural at first glance. But the partnership makes sense once you know
about the Learning Shoe, a product that Fuseproject founder Yves Béhar
designed for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art exhibition Design
Afoot: Athletic Shoes 1995--2000. The recyclable design--which exists
only in concept--was meant to adapt to the wearer's foot through reactive
material and a computer "learning chip" embedded in the sole.
"I would say it's like a Birkenstock on steroids that could happen
fifteen years from now, technologically speaking," Béhar
muses. Apparently Birkenstock agreed.
Since its founding in 1967 Birkenstock USA has had an ardent following--legions
of college students and aging hippies that value the shoes' ergonomic and
sustainable principles. But there was one market the $100 million-a-year
company definitely hadn't conquered: the fashion-conscious. Aiming
to attract "urbanite" customers, Birkenstock turned to Béhar,
who has produced the Architect Collection, 20 styles for women and 15 for
men that are being released this year.
"I wanted to look at the qualities Birkenstock is known for: recyclability,
comfort, and manufacturing to meet German environmental laws," Behar
says. "Unfortunately these qualities, which are very current, are rarely
translated into an aesthetically current product--especially in the fashion
industry." Béhar updated the Birkenstock by making its cork
foot bed more dynamic and using new materials for the sole. "We 3-D-scanned
Birkenstock's existing last [mold] and insole, and reshaped the two parts
to have more fluid transitions between the different areas of the foot,"
he says. Building on basic Birkenstock ergonomics, Béhar added an
EVA plastic cushion to the toe area and a TechnoGel heel pad, and created
a new sole from double layers of TPU plastic. The EVA and TPU are recyclable,
and the TechnoGel biodegrades. "The primary focus of the project was
to continue the evolution of what green design can be, to bring in materials
that are unusual or not regarded as green yet," Béhar says.
But it was also important to convey to customers that the philosophy behind
the product hasn't changed. "One of the challenges with a company that
has so much to say about what they represent is bringing those qualities
out," Béhar says. "That's literally what we did by providing
windows to the internal technology. We tried to reveal what the design means."
Each shoe is a playful peep show, with slivers of the cork, heel pad, and
layers of sole revealed. Béhar adds, "We're showing the product
in a new light, saying, 'Look, this is cool--and by the way, it's green
design.'"
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