As the first fall snow accumulates on the streets of Missoula, I felt inclined to share. I’m a loyal customer of Birkenstock. Call me a Missoula Hippie, I don’t care.
Truth is, they make a great product. Since 1774, speaks to this. I even believe in the Birkenstock health benefits and credit their shoes to the comfort of my standing desk. My Birk’s are the Herman Miller of my office. My only beef with these legendary shoes lie in the shock absorbing sole. This sole may absorb minimal amounts of shock, but also: 1) needs replacing on a frequent basis, and 2) slips on snow, ice, water, wet grass, and just about any other surface you can image. Don’t worry, I have a solution or I wouldn’t be writing this.
The solution is once you wear through the factory sole (it won’t take long), or slip and fall on ice, replace the sole with a Kletterlift Sole from Vibram. A local cobbler should happily take care of your request–at least mine did. The shoes will soon emerge as your favorite pair. They can go where Birkenstocks haven’t been able to go for the last 225 years.
If you’re a Birkenstock fan, you know they name their shoes by destinations–London, Boston, Zurich– I like to call my modification the Missoula.
Let it snow.