A bit of a rant really.
I have worn Birkenstocks for well over 30 years, had almost every colour and style, worn them everywhere, walked for miles, never had any issues with sizing, quality or comfort.
Until now, and I have had enough...
Bought a fancy 'limited edition' pair in Singapore in the Birkenstock shop, Giza style, bright metallic silver with a big buckle in a iridescent blue/purple colour, black footbed, loved them so different. This was just under 6 months ago cost of £186, now the silver is rubbing off the leather, esp. round the buckles where also the leather underneath is all scratched due to the buckle, the toe post leather is wrinkling up badly, the top of the sole is worn at the front, in a odd place to wear out, the soles soles feel more like 'plastic' when walking rather than the rubber of all my other ones. I mostly wear these on a night time as they are a tad, erm, bright.
Another pair of Giza, tobacco leather, 1 year old, so badly worn on the soles look worse than others I have had for almost 7 years, and the top leather looks very shabby already. Im starting to slip on pavements and esp places that have tiles due to the lack of any grip on the soles, so really rendering them unwearable.
I have a total of 12 pairs, oldest pair is around 20 years old and still going strong.
I rotate my Birkenstocks but do wear them most days, but the last 2 pairs have been such poor quality, I am not going to buy anymore. Looking at Birkenstock complaints on line I am not alone with the quality issues since been sold to LVMH, who now appear to have cheapened the materials used but the prices have really gone up.
But what will I replace them with?
I dont hold out much hope of my complaint to Birkenstock..
Rant over!