In the early years of the new century, there was a growing sub-culture which embraced nature and this fed into ideas around shoe reform. Konrad Birkenstock began to think more about how the foot could perfectly ‘roll’ inside the contemporary shoe. In 1902, his experiments led to the production of the first ‘insole’. Up until that point insoles for curing or healing damaged feet were made out of metal because the mainstream view was that the foot could only be healed or stabilised when it was ‘fixed’ in place.
But for Konrad, insoles weren’t just about healing damaged feet or alleviating foot illnesses, they were crucial to all round foot health. For over a decade, he experimented with a variety of materials. In 1913 he settled on an insole construction made with a mixture of materials (including cork and latex), and officially registered this product under the name “Fußbett” (footbed). The introduction of Birkenstock’s orthopedic footbed was a revolution for the family business and foot health.