Answers · Footwear
Are Birkenstocks still made in Germany?
The company's answer is precise and the shops' answer is patchy. Both are worth having before you decide it matters.
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Mostly, and the qualifier matters. The company states that every footbed is produced in Germany and that it assembles the “vast majority” of its products there, with the rest assembled elsewhere in the EU and supplemental components manufactured in Portugal.
We then checked what shops actually say. Of 43 live US retail listings pulled on 3 September 2026, 27 stated Germany, 2 stated Portugal, 1 said only ‘imported’, and 13 said nothing. So the honest answer to ‘is this pair German’ is that roughly a third of listings will not tell you.
What the company says
The claim is published on the group's own production page. In its own words the company is “German made”, and it sets out the structure behind that phrase rather than leaving it as a slogan:
- All footbeds are produced in Germany, and the company describes them as developed there too.
- The vast majority of products are assembled in Germany; the remainder are assembled elsewhere in the EU.
- Supplemental component manufacturing takes place in Portugal.
- All footwear is made within the EU, and raw materials are described as predominantly European.
- Manufacturing is vertically integrated, in the company's own factories, which it frames as the difference between it and an industry that offshored decades ago.
That is a more precise claim than ‘made in Germany’, and it is precise in a direction that is easy to miss: the footbed is always German, the assembly usually is, and the components need not be.
What the listings say
A company statement describes the whole operation. A shopper wants to know about one pair. So we read the country-of-manufacture line in every non-marketplace listing in our sample.
| What the retailer's description said | Listings |
|---|---|
| Made in Germany | 27 |
| Made in Portugal | 2 |
| ‘Imported’, no country | 1 |
| No statement of any kind | 13 |
| Total retail listings checked | 43 |
Non-marketplace listings within an 800-row sample of the brand catalogue, 3 September 2026. Resale listings were excluded because their descriptions are written by individual sellers.
Prices checked 3 September 2026 against live US retailer listings pulled during this run.
Broken down by model, the pattern matches what the company describes. Arizona, Boston, Madrid, Gizeh, Tokio, Franca, Milano and the Birki work clogs all appeared with German manufacture stated. The single Portugal listing was a Papillio — the platform sub-line — which is consistent with a company that assembles most things in Germany and some things elsewhere in the EU.
The thirteen silent listings are not evidence of anything hidden. Country of manufacture is printed on the product; a retailer that omits it from a web description has made an editorial choice, not a claim.
Keep identifying
How to read the answer on a specific pair
- Look at the footbed and sole. The country is printed on the product itself. This is the only answer that is about your pair rather than about the company.
- Check the box. Country of manufacture appears on the label with the size and article number.
- Read the retailer description before buying. Two thirds of the retail listings we checked stated it. If it matters to you, buy from one that does.
- Treat a resale listing's claim as a seller's claim. We excluded marketplace rows from the count above precisely because the description is written by whoever is selling.
And one thing not to conclude: a pair assembled elsewhere in the EU is not a counterfeit and is not a lesser product by the company's own account. It is the ordinary consequence of a manufacturer that has said publicly it assembles some products outside Germany.
Frequently asked
Are Birkenstocks made in Germany?
Mostly. The maker states that all its footbeds are produced in Germany and the vast majority of its products are assembled there, with the remainder assembled elsewhere in the EU and supplemental components made in Portugal.
Are any Birkenstocks made in Portugal?
Yes. The company states supplemental component manufacturing happens in Portugal, and one Papillio listing in our sample of live US retail listings gave its country of manufacture as Portugal.
Are Birkenstocks made in China?
The company states that all its footwear is made in the EU. We found no listing in our sample claiming manufacture outside the EU.
How can I check where my pair was made?
The country is printed on the shoe and on the box. Of 43 live US retail listings we checked, 27 stated Germany, 2 stated Portugal, 1 said only 'imported', and 13 said nothing at all.
Does it say 'Made in Germany' on the sandal?
On pairs assembled in Germany it is marked on the footbed or sole. The marking is on the product, which is why 13 of the 43 listings we checked simply did not repeat it in their online description.
Method and scope
- Manufacturer statement: birkenstock-group.com, production and manufacturing, read 3 September 2026.
- Materials composition: birkenstock-group.com, materials, read the same day.
- Listing evidence: 43 non-marketplace US listings within an 800-row sample of a 92,283-listing brand catalogue, pulled 3 September 2026. Each description was searched for a country-of-manufacture statement.
- Resale listings were excluded from the count because their descriptions are written by individual sellers rather than by a retailer.
- We have not visited a factory, handled a pair, or verified any manufacturing claim beyond what the company publishes and what retailers state.
Last verified 3 September 2026 against the manufacturer's published production page and 43 live US retail listings checked during this run
How this guide was made. We research and draft these guides with AI, then a person checks every price, link and factual claim against the source before it publishes. We work this way because it lets us re-verify prices across hundreds of guides in a day, which is what keeps the numbers here current; it does not decide what we recommend. Anything we could not verify is labelled as unverified rather than filled in.