Birkenstock Studio - Milan Design Week 2024 Event

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Birkenstock / Milan Design Week Event - "Birkenstock Studio"

Creative Direction

1. A scenario oversaturated by brand collaborations

Collaboration lies at the core of sneaker and streetwear culture and yet it feels like what was once the most exciting part of being a sneakerhead has gone stale and elicits more exhaustion than excitement.

80% of fashion shoppers declare that are interested in brands that starts unexpected collaborations

2. Why Bikenstock Studio?

Collaborations are meant to surprise us: with this in mind we were looking for something out of the ordinary. On the occasion of the Milan Design Week 2024, Birkenstock will present an unprecedented collaboration, the one with its own heritage and history, dating back to 1774.

This unusual exchange between past and present will give life to a unique work, capable of overcoming the barriers of time and space, to enhance a brand whose quality is rooted in history.

3. Event format

During the event we will walk the story of the Birkenstock brand and products through the lens of an unusual collaboration for the streetwear community. The brand will collaborate with its own heritage, past silhouettes and the people who left their sign writing its history.
The collaboration will be at the base of the event, bringing together experiences, exhibitions and collective activities that celebrate the brand through its defining moments, achievements, unique features and collaborations.

How can we show that?

Through four different areas of interest with four different communication goals

4. User Journey

The following map goes to represent what was the average User Journey inside the event.
After seeing the a) Entrance, guests visited the left wing of the building: the b) Vault Room inside which they learned about Birkenstock and its milestones. Next they went to the c) White Room where our talented Jacopo De Carli customized our Birkenstocks. Guests will be invited to pick up a piece of leather from the table, personalize it and take it to the d) Vault Room, finally placing it inside the “BIRKENSTOCK” inscription hanging on the north façade of the room. Next, continue through the East Wing. Upon arriving at the e) Tower Room, you will be able to view the two sand and moss pots with their collections laid on top of it. Next, the visitor viewed the spiral of shoes and at the adv in the center of the room, the mound of sand while proceeding to the f) Brick Room with its Hourglass. The experience ends of the g) Tower Room by taking a picture in the photo corner.

We will now describe each room, its message, and its purpose within the event.

The Workshop Area

The workshop was a space where you can bring in your own Birkenstocks and customize them with small jewelry, leather goods and accessories made from old discarded pairs.

This area was run by Jacopo De Carli, a sneaker restorer 2.0 who conducted 4 workshops over 3 days customizing with guests more than 40 pairs of Birkenstocks.

The goal of this area was to show the endless customization possibilities of these shoes.

Steps of a Biography

We traced the history of Birkenstock through its highlights. We visually associate past impactful campaigns, related products, and labels that explain what happened at that specific moment. The idea was to place a wheel on the ceiling from which to hang old advertisements that will be interspersed with newer ones to create contrast.
Under this wheel we are going to place sand, which recreates the feeling of walking with a pair of Birkenstocks, and we will place above it a spiral made of shoes, from the oldest to the newest models.

Hourglass

In this room, guests were able to admire the brand's original early shoe models in all their timeless beauty, as well as some representative archival tools from the past two centuries.

Protagonists of the room were collaborations between Birkenstock and Heidi Klum along with the first Birkenstock prototype ever made: the Prelude.

The Laboratory

A room entirely dedicated to the Birkenstock heritage. Inside we have place two wooden panels above which we went to place the shoemaker's original tools and diagrams and plans related to the most iconic shoes that will recreate the mood of a product designer studio. They will form a passage and frame the writing "BIRKENSTOCK" which will be positioned on the north wall. The walls will be populated by 6 panels representing the milestones that transformed the iconic footbed into what we all know now.

5. The "Making of". A quick recap of what has been

Birkenstock Studio was a great success both in terms of participants and media resonance reaching more than 2700 entries at the event in three days and an overall digital reach exceeding 2MLN views.