Birkenstock set for its stock market debut as Wall Street trades in its wingtips for sandals

NEW YORK (AP) — Birkenstock is making its debut on the stock market as Wall Street trades in its wingtips for sandals for a day.

The 249-year-old German maker of upmarket sandals set a price of $46 per share for its initial public offering of stock, valuing the company at $8.64 billion.

Birkenstock is due to start trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the “BIRK” ticker symbol. Birkenstock Holding Ltd. sold about 10.8 million shares in the offering, raising about $495 million. Its shareholders sold an additional 21.5 million shares.

The company’s footwear was first cobbled together by Johann Adam Birkenstock in Germany in 1774. The sandals have long been derided as the antithesis of high fashion but have a cult following and this year got a plug in the blockbuster film “Barbie.”

Birkenstock’s IPO will be the fourth to launch in the U.S. in the past month, following Arm Holdings, Klaviyo and Instacart. There were just 71 IPOs in the U.S. last year, the lowest number since 2009, according to Renaissance Capital.