These comfy, modular slides are coming for Birkenstock’s throne

Birkenstocks have reigned supreme for decades. Commbi wants to provide a sleek alternative with an equally comfy footbed.

It’s true, Birkenstocks are phenomenal shoes. There’s a reason the company generated $1.6 billion in revenue last year—a 20% spike from the year before. But are there things you might want to tweak about your trusty old Birks?

For Sarah and Chris Rhoads, a pair of married creative directors, the answer was a definitive yes. They both wore Birkenstocks to photo shoots, drawn to the arch support and comfortable footbeds. But they didn’t like how the sandals got soggy when they got wet, and how the footbeds would get gross over time, particularly when they were made of shearling. So they decided to do something about it. “After endlessly searching for an alternative, we decided one day that we were crazy enough to make our perfect slide ourselves,” Chris says.