Birkenstock Pressures Retailers, Suppliers Not to Stock Look-Alike Shoes

Sandal maker Birkenstock is pushing retailers to pull similar styles from other brands from their shelves in their brick-and-mortar locations and online stores — and some have begun to comply with the request, according to sources and emails cited by The Wall Street Journal Monday (April 4).

Nordstrom and Zappos.com have pulled some of Birkenstock’s so-called “copycats,” sold by Mephisto, Naot, Freedom Moses and Viking Sandals, the report says, drawing the ire of the affected retailers.

“This is competitive bullying,” Rusty Hall, chief executive of Mephisto USA, said in the WSJ report. “We haven’t infringed on any design patent.”

Nordstrom and Zappos recently canceled orders for Mephisto’s Harmony and Hester sandals that his company has sold for more than two decades, because they look too similar to Birkenstock’s Arizona style, said Hall. Representatives for the other footwear brands didn’t respond or had no comment for WSJ’s report.

A Birkenstock Group B.V. & Co. KG told WSJ that retailers make the decision about what to sell on their own and there are no strong-arming tactics at work. Birkenstock “has an obligation to protect its brand and will make it available only to retailers who maintain its integrity,” the report says.

“We always try to be thoughtful about shoes that closely resemble an iconic style, especially when we know our customers love the original,” said Tacey Powers, Nordstrom’s general merchandise manager for shoes, adding the chain is eliminating duplication by pulling some brands. Zappos declined comment for WSJ’s report.

Birkenstock’s footbeds are trademarked, and it holds several design patents on newer styles, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but Megan Bannigan, a partner at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, told WSJ it might not be easy for the company to police its lookalikes.

Birkenstock did not respond to a request for comment from PYMNTS at that time this article was published.

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