Birkenstocks No Longer Laughingstock Of The Sandal Market

NOVATO, Calif. - When Margot Fraser visited her native Germany in 1966, she discovered a pair of homely sandals called Birkenstocks that soothed her chronically aching feet.

Thinking that American women would welcome this alternative to the pointy footwear fashions of the day, she brought a few pairs back to her home in Santa Cruz, Calif., and began a word-of-mouth campaign. She and her husband soon had to move their cars out of the garage and convert it into a warehouse to hold all the shoes.

Today, Birkenstock Footprint Sandals, of which Fraser is owner and president, has grown well beyond the garage stage.

The company occupies a 74,000-square-foot office and warehouse complex - double the space of just a year ago - in an office park in the Marin County community of Novato, about 25 miles north of San Francisco.

And far from the few pairs that Fraser ordered for friends via parcel post in the old days, her company now imports about 500,000 pairs of sandals and shoes annually from the German manufacturer and distributes them to more than 1,000 retailers across the country.

Not bad for earthy, clunky, cork-bed shoes that were originally sold in health-food stores. They became part of the counterculture's dress code in the late 1960s and over the years have occasionally been denounced by preppie and trendy sets as Geekenstocks.

To win broader acceptance of the shoe, Fraser, who was once the sole U.S. distributor, has lately encouraged the German manufacturer of Birkenstocks to step into livelier styles and colors.

The idea is to try to make what was once a hallmark of laid-back hippiedom more appealing to increasingly comfort-conscious yuppiedom.

But is the world ready for black patent leather Birkenstocks, set to hit the stores this spring?

Fraser believes, quite adamantly, that it is.

``I feel that there is a need out there for more style and color as women look for more comfortable shoes to wear on different occasions,'' she said.

In the past decade, the company has gone from 12 earth-tone styles to more than 125 styles and colors, including purple, fuchsia, forest green and pastels. For spring, the company is showing a line of cruise colors, featuring hot pink and two-tone sandals.

A year ago, the company also began using more sophisticated promotion techniques, offering gifts with purchases, sprucing up in-store advertising with slick promotional materials, and shifting from a folksy logo in script to a sleek, high-tech symbol with a stylized sandal.

Fraser, a gracious woman who sweeps her long, blond hair into a bun, realizes that the durable sandals and shoes are not at all likely to become the next Reebok, Nike or L.A. Gear. But she expects the company's attention to changing lifestyles and needs and consumers' increasing wish for comfort to pay off.

``We've doubled since 1985, and we expect to double again within three years,'' said Fraser, whose English is flawless but heavily accented.

The staff was recently doubled, to 71, in anticipation of a Birkenstock boomlet.

For Birkenstock, growth in the United States to date has been steady but relatively slow. With the move into more fashionable lines, Fraser said she believes that the company is poised for a growth spurt.

Gradually, other retailers decided that the strange-looking footwear had merit. They tend to be a loyal bunch.

In Seattle, Charles Grimes opened M.J. Feet in the early 1970s, a store devoted almost exclusively to Birkenstocks. Today, Grimes has a store in the University District and in Pike Place Market, and competes with other retailers who now sell Birkenstocks.

Dave Page, owner of Dave Page Cobbler in Fremont, does a steady business resoling Birkenstocks.

``They used to be almost a cult surrounding item. People that wore them were devoted to them,'' Page said. ``Now, they've definitely entered the mainstream.''

Louise Lanning, owner of five Birkenstock stores in the Los Angeles area, gave up fashion modeling to go into the retail business after Birkenstock proved a saving grace for her sore feet.

``My feet hurt,'' said Lanning, a native San Franciscan who in her modeling days used to traipse all over the hilly city in high heels. ``Birkenstocks helped me.''

Fourteen years ago, when she opened her first store, ``Birkenstocks were not very acceptable in most circles. Today, they're more acceptable.''