A new Birkenstock collection designed by Central Saint Martins students

Birkenstock has now gone from being a simple, practical and comfortable footwear brand to becoming part of big luxury groups - especially after the acquisition by LVMH for four billion euros. Today, the brand's heritage is put to the test again by four students from one of the most important fashion schools in the world, Central Saint Martins in London. From the meeting between the two, a two-year project called MA Fashion Collection was born, which involved students of the degree course in History and Theory of Fashion and the Master in Fashion.

The students conducted research in the brand's archive (which covers 250 years of history), the results of which were then reworked by the students of the Master, producing four new sandal models and the re-edition of the first model from the Birkenstock archive.

A year later, a jury of 12 experts, including Birkenstock CEO Oliver Reichert, Master Fashion Director Fabio Piras and fashion critic Sarah Mower MBE - evaluated the students' work, selecting 10 finalists awarded with a first scholarship. Four of these projects, after a long development phase, have been selected for the mass production of as many models bearing the name of each designer. The CEO of Birkenstock commented: "Taking up the challenge of delivering the product innovation conceived by these students is a great opportunity. We are proud to have left a mark on their growing careers and consider this project as one of our most important achievements".