Birkenstock has stepped wholeheartedly into heritage menswear with the launch of its new BOLD collection. Speaking to the function, quality and heritage Birkenstock is known for, BOLD features premium versions of the much loved Arizona and Boston styles highlighted in a collaborative, creative campaign with UK-based craftsmen and curators Takashi Okabe and James Otter.
The heritage footwear collection launch for men features two premium leather styles in; Arizona, RRP $400, and Boston, RRP $450
Takashi Okabe is the Director of London’s Clutch Café, a menswear store specialising in a refined edit of the ‘American Casual’ style, defined through a fundamentally Japanese lens, while James Otter is a Cornwall-based master woodworker who crafts bespoke, hand-made surfboards using traditional surfboard construction techniques and timber sourced from England’s West Country.
As part of the campaign, Birkenstock and James Otter have created a one-of-a-kind surfboard: a hand-made, all-wooden ‘eagle’ based on a legendary Californian design. Like the Birkenstock brand, the ‘eagle’ design has ‘paddled against the flow’ of mainstream culture and defined an alternative aesthetic. A launch event was hosted on July 6 hosted by Takashi Okabe at London’s Clutch Café, which saw James Otter speaking about the creation of the board and discussing how vital provenance and process are in creating extraordinary objects.
Birkenstock BOLD is available from July 7 online, Birkenstock Newmarket, and selected retailers worldwide.
