It Took Three Years to Make These Artisanal Birkenstocks (EXCLUSIVE)
Song for the Mute's collaborative Birkenstocks were a long time coming. Literally! It's not just that the Australian clothing label has quietly become one of our great modern indie designer labels, although it has. It's that SFTM spent three years perfecting its Birkenstock collab to get the lived-in "indoor-outdoor" feel just right, cofounders Melvin Tanaya and Lyna Ty tell Highsnobiety.
We've all seen a fancy Birkenstock or two in our time, right? Birkenstock has worked with so many luxury labels on high-end shoes that it's basically a luxury label in its own right. In fact, there's even a dedicated line of luxury Birkenstocks, Birkenstock 1774, which only just debuted the world's first bridal Birkenstocks.
And though Song for the Mute did give some high-end Birkenstocks a new coat of paint — again, literally — this was not as simple a process as it sounds. Song for the Mute took the hard way to no-brainer products, leaning into the storytelling that informs its mainline collections to define advanced shoes that're nonetheless approachable.
Before sampling a single Birkenstock, Song for the Mute dreamed up a quartet of creatives who might be clad in Birkenstocks as they live their lives. These figures informed the shape and styling of shoes that were perfected over the course of three years and release on the Birkenstock 1774 website on April 17, accompanied by complementary apparel.
One of the key touches is a bespoke rivet that's emphasized on the outside of otherwise familiar forms like the London shoe and Amsterdam clog, marking the first time that this critical piece of Birkenstock infrastructure has ever been meddled with in this way.
These kinds of small touches do not impose. Quite the opposite: they're not obvious at all. But they are important, because they reveal the human touch that informs the entire endeavor, like brushstrokes on a canvas or the tone of a guitar.
Simply, why Birkenstock?
Melvin Tanaya and Lyna Ty: Birkenstock was always there. Since the beginning of Song, it's always been a brand that we’ve wanted to collaborate with. We’ve styled our look books throughout the years with Birkenstock!
Having worked with other footwear brands on special-edition shoes, what made the Birkenstock experience unique?
Our vision for this collection was clear from the beginning. Through our three-year collaboration with Birkenstock’s team, they allowed us to push on materials and execution in order to see our collaborative vision fulfilled.
Did the silhouettes you landed on inform the archetypes you paired them with or vice versa?
Definitely vice versa. Once we created our four characters, we wanted to make them as believable as possible.
We picked out our silhouettes based on what would really fit these characters and their settings. We also wanted to explore the concept of indoor and outdoor shoes, so we picked styles that we would either suit or clash with their traditional form.
Similarly, how did you land on the specific styles?
The style of shoe was influenced by the character and what silhouette we imagined they would wear. For the Gardener, we landed on the Super Birki 2.0, an outdoor gardening and work clog. We even printed grass onto the insole. For the Artist, we pictured a soft suede shoe aged from time and wear, marked with paint splatters — the London matched this.
What was your process for recontextualizing these existing silhouettes in new materials?
We trialed different materials that would disrupt the traditional Birkenstock silhouette whilst keeping the overall execution restrained and true to our narrative. We wanted to design a collection that contrasted visually and to design the shoes to look lived-in by their characters.
Similar to the choosing the shoe models, the characters also led the selection of textiles and finishings. So, for the Artist, we used custom paint splatters and an aging treatment that reflects the life and setting of its owner.
To wrap up, what's the Birkenstock difference?
Its history as an orthopedic shoe brand makes it so suitable for everyday life and the shoes' functionality and form transcends gender and age. People from all ages and occupations pick Birkenstocks as their everyday shoe and so, it fit perfectly into the creative world of our characters.
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