The BIRKENSTOCK production site in Pasewalk celebrates the topping-out ceremony and sets course for the final construction phase

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Mar 08, 2023, 04:10 ET

LINZ, Germany , March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- After BIRKENSTOCK laid the foundation of its 120-million-euro lighthouse project in Pasewalk only last August, the next milestone was celebrated with the topping-out ceremony. Around 250 guests, including craftspeople, partners and the BIRKENSTOCK teams, gathered at the large construction site to celebrate this memorable moment together. The day before, BIRKENSTOCK had invited representatives of the state government and the city of Pasewalk, including Reinhard Meyer, Minister for Economy, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labor, to a tour of the plant.

There has been a lot going on at the Berlin-Szczecin Industrial Park since BIRKENSTOCK laid the foundation for the new plant last August. The BIRKENSTOCK site in Pasewalk, where more than 1,000 jobs will be created in the medium term, is taking shape: the shell construction of the 36,000-square-meter building complex has almost been completed, the floors have been laid, and construction of the roof structure is also finished.

As tradition demands, BIRKENSTOCK took this as an opportunity to hold a topping-out ceremony together with the craftspeople and workers, the partners and the BIRKENSTOCK teams: more than 250 guests watched as project manager Klaus-Michael Muus mounted the topping-out wreath, decorated in the BIRKENSTOCK colors, to the roof of the plant's entrance hall, thereby kicking off the next exciting construction phase of the lighthouse project.

Mark Jensen, Chief Technical Operations Officer (CTOO) of the BIRKENSTOCK Group, said at the topping-out ceremony: "Today, I would like to expressly thank all those who have worked on the construction site in all weathers over the past many months and helped to keep the project fully on track despite challenges such as inflation and supply bottlenecks. We are currently finishing the last groundworks and in the next few days we will start the interior fittings of the plant. In April we plan to get the installation of the first production machines underway. I am confident that we will be able to hold the first "Made in Pasewalk" BIRKENSTOCK products in our hands in October at the latest, just as planned.

Reinhard Meyer, Minister for Economy, Infrastructure, Tourism and Labor of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, said during the ceremony: "The project, which is of great importance for our region, is making significant progress. The excellent cooperation between the city, the district, the state and the company has been an essential factor for the rapid implementation of the entire project. The plant will be a real asset for Western Pomerania and beyond, strengthening the job market in the region. There will be new job opportunities for many people."

In addition to Minister of Economic Affairs Reinhard Meyer, Bettina Martin (Minister of Science, Culture, Federal and European Affairs MV), State Secretary Heiko Miraß, Economic Transfer Officer Dr. Jens-Uwe Heiden, Markus Biercher (Chairman of the Management Board of the Regional Directorate North of the Federal Employment Agency) as well as Pasewalk Mayor Danny Rodewald and his deputy Marko Schmidt were part of a delegation of officials who were shown around the construction site by BIRKENSTOCK CTOO Mark Jensen on March 6, 2023.

In the home stretch: production will start in the third quarter of 2023

The topping-out ceremony kicks off the second half of the completion process of the new BIRKENSTOCK plant: BIRKENSTOCK continues to work towards a start of production in the third quarter of 2023. To this end, the company has made recruiting a top priority. Around 30 positions have already been filled, most of them with applicants from the region. Before the end of March, BIRKENSTOCK will open an information office in the city center of Pasewalk, which will serve as meeting place with the citizens of Pasewalk, but also as a contact point for all people from the region who are interested in a job at the plant: ultimately, more than 1,000 positions will have to be filled in Pasewalk to ensure that the urgently needed production capacity BIRKENSTOCK needs to meet the global demand for its products is available from the third quarter.

In the next weeks and months, the teams around project manager Klaus-Michael Muus will work on the next milestones in the construction process so that production can start as planned: in addition to the completion of several functional buildings, such as the employee office and the plant's state-of-the-art cafeteria, this also includes the installation and calibration of the production machines. It seems that there is not too much standing in the way of the first "Made in Pasewalk" BIRKENSTOCK products.

ABOUT BIRKENSTOCK

BIRKENSTOCK is a global lifestyle brand with a heritage in iconic footwear, rooted in the creation of the BIRKENSTOCK footbed. The brand, which can be traced back as far as 1774, is guided by the notion of quality and function in all its actions and across all categories. The concept of all-round well-being is translated to footwear, sleep systems, and natural cosmetics to increasingly realize the brand heritage's lifestyle vision.

With around 5,500 employees worldwide, this traditional, sixth-generation family-run business is also one of the German footwear industry's biggest employers. BIRKENSTOCK was already using the term "footbed" in the 1910s, giving it the meaning which is commonly understood by consumers all over the world to this day – as a synonym for outstanding comfort when walking and standing. By the early 1970s, BIRKENSTOCK had become a global player. Since 2021, the company has been majority-owned by L Catterton, the world's largest growth investor with a focus on the consumer goods industry, and Financière Agache, a holding company controlled by Agache, the holding company of the Arnault family.

Manufactured in Germany, the sandals are sold in more than 100 countries on all continents. BIRKENSTOCK also has a growing range of enclosed shoes, children's shoes, and occupational footwear, as well as specialist products for orthopedic retailers, socks, bags, and belts. In 2017, BIRKENSTOCK added sleep systems and natural cosmetics (BIRKENSTOCK NATURAL SKIN CARE) to its portfolio of products. BIRKENSTOCK has 16 sites in Germany, in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Bavaria, and Saxony. The long-standing enterprise also operates its own sales offices in the United States and Canada as well as in Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Dubai and India.