Birkenstock gained fame with its sturdy authentic leather footwear. The breathable material and variety of leathers gained Birkenstocks a massive clientele. But, with numerous Birkenstocks styles, a buyer can get confused if all of them are made with leather. The brand uses a wide range of natural leathers to craft the upper portion of the shoes, such as oil, waxy, metallic, nubuck, and suede. Except for synthetic leather for Birkenstock vegan line, all leather used in the footwear is real, no matter the shoe style. Birkenstocks uses cork, wool-felt, jute, and metal for footbeds, buckles, and other parts of the shoes.
Are Birkenstocks Real Leather?
Birkenstock launched a wide variety of footwear, most of which are made of genuine leather. Yet, Birkenstock created faux leather vegan shoes with synthetic material that provides the outlook and texture of the leather shoes.
Birkenstocks decided to create vegan shoes to respect the consumers’ lifestyle choices and buy animal cruelty-free products or vegans. The company designed vegan Birkenstock shoes with a patented synthetic material named Birkibuc, whereas they incorporated other natural elements like jute, cork, felt with the boots and sandals.
Birkenstocks Materials
Birkenstocks create their footwear with great care while utilizing various materials according to the shoe parts and styles. All of these materials have a distinctive feature that can be replicated. A brief description of each element is given below:
• Leather
Birkenstock uses natural hide and colors them with natural dye, which ensures the unique texture and pattern of the leather. Birkenstock designed sandals, boots, slip-on, clogs, water-resistant boots, and many other styles with leather. There are plenty of natural leather Birkenstocks styles: Arizona, Granada, Boston, Florida, Madrid, Gizeh, Bryson Shearling, Zermatt Premium, Madrid, Sibyl, etc. To recognize the authenticity of leather, a buyer should check the natural grain, texture, and unevenness of the Birkenstocks footwear.
• Synthetic
Birkenstock invented and trademarked their three synthetic materials: Birko-Flor, Birkibuc, and Birko-Felt. Birkibuc works as the artificial alternative to nubuck leather and has the same texture and outlook. Birko-Flor is similar to natural leather, and Birko-Felt functions as the wool felt for inner and outer comfort. Birko-Felt works as the inner lining for some heavy-duty leather boots, whereas Birko-Flor and Birkibuc never incorporate natural leather footwear. The material description from the Birkenstocks website specifies which shoes have what specific material in them.
• Other Materials
Birkenstocks crafted their shoe parts such as buckles and inner and outer soles with synthetic and natural materials (Cork, Latex, Jute, Microfibers, Polyurethane, and EVA – Ethyl Vinyl Acetate). Birkenstocks produce the footbed with cork and latex; jute works to coat the footbed for comfort. People can recognize the Birkenstocks through these unique combinations of elements. However, Birkenstocks’ outer or upper part is primarily natural leather.
Birkenstock is committed to providing footwear for people with all sorts of lifestyles; this insight made them create synthetic, animal cruelty-free products. As the company offers a variety of shoes with genuine leather, a person can easily find a pair of natural leather Birkenstocks.