Report: Birkenstock Is Mulling an IPO

It’s been a busy few years for footwear IPOs — and the latest brand considering going public is Birkenstock, WWD reported Wednesday.

FN’s sister publication, citing sources, said that the brand’s main owner, private equity player L Catterton, has started to explore options for the hot brand, including a potential IPO.

WWD said one source speculated that Birkenstock — which was sold to L Catterton and an affiliated firm, Financière Agache, Bernard Arnault’s family investment company back in 2021 — could make a move as early as this fall.

Birkenstock, which has been on a pandemic-fueled winning streak for the past few years, is the latest shoe player to eye the public markets. Both On and Allbirds went public in 2021. The former continues to experience strong momentum, while the latter has run into significant challenges of late.

For its part, Birkenstock, which was honored with the 2022 FNAA Collaboration of the Year award for its tie-up with Manolo Blahnik, has continued to expand both within its core business and through attention-grabbing collabs.

Last August, the footwear company, which was also the FNAA Brand of the Year in 2020, broke ground on a 120 million-euro ($127 million) shoe factory at the Berlin-Szczecin Industrial Park, located about an hour north of Berlin. It is expected to open this year.

The production expansion comes as the brand continues to grow its U.S. retail presence.

This is the latest milestone for the popular footwear brand, which has continued to invest in retail stores in the U.S. in recent years. In December, the brand opened its fourth company-owned store in the States within the Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, Calif. It joined Birkenstock’s other owned stores in Brooklyn and SoHo in New York City and in Venice Beach, Calif.