THE BIMSHIRE CLOG
The Union Birkenstock “Bimshire” Clog is a combination of features from Chris Gibbs’ favorite perennial styles — Boston and Zurich.
When Birkenstock hit us up to work on a collaboration I already knew what I wanted to do; take my two favorite Birkenstock styles and mash em!
With all of our footwear collaborations we love playing with texture and juxtaposing different fabrics and materials against each other in interesting ways. We kept that same offense when building the Bimshire…
Each compartment of the shoe has a different material. For the over strap we used a smooth full grain leather. The under strap we chose a luxury canvas and trimmed the edge with “French piping” and the toe box we used that tried and proven classic "Birkenstock suede”. For the footbed we chose a smooth nappa leather tinted in our “Union Orange” for some cool “shelf appeal”.
The Bimshire is available in two colors; “Beige Taupe” (Mid Brown), which to us is just the classic “Birk” color and “Shadow Grey” (Sandy Pink), more reflective of our Guava colors on past collaborations. We kept the overall shoe colors intentionally muted and understated because we really feel like that is the best thing about Birkenstocks. You can wear them with anything because of how democratic they are.
Taking cues from Birkenstocks trend to name shoes after cities. We decided to affectionately name the shoe the “Bimshire" or “Bim" after the island of Barbados, paying homage to Chris Gibbs’ Bajan roots.
His longtime relationship with BIRKENSTOCK began over 30 years ago as a teenager growing up in Ottawa, seeking out his first pair in a vintage shop as a means of fitting in and subsequently became a devoted aficionado. Feeling like the outcast kid in a predominantly white city, Gibbs began experiment- ing with style in unorthodox ways, drawing inspiration from both his Canadian and West Indian heritage. Following him through middle-school to the 90’s club scene in New York, Gibbs incorporates his “Birks” into any look, loyally proclaiming them his “wardrobe staple” to this day.
1774 is an exclusive division of BIRKENSTOCK dedicated to special projects and collaborations, continuing its innovative legacy by inviting designers and creatives to discover the archive of over 700 silhouettes and create new styles that unite elements from its stylistic repertoire. (Shop here) at 9AM PDT.