Topline
A pair of Birkenstock sandals famously worn by late billionaire Steve Jobs for 20 years as he grew Apple into the tech giant it is today sold for $218,750 at auction, more than three times as much as expected.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs speaks during an Apple special event April 8, 2010, in Cupertino, California.
Key Facts
Jobs wore the brown suede leather Birkenstock Arizona sandals throughout the 1970s and 1980s, according to Julien’s Auctions, including as he was coming up with the beginnings of the first Apple computer with cofounder Steve Wozniak in 1976.
The sandal’s cork and jute footbed retains the imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet after decades of use, according to the auction house, and the rubber bottom of the shoes shows heavy wear.
The shoes first made their way to market in 2016 though Mark Sheff, a natural foods chef who managed Jobs’ home in Albany, California, in the 1980s and said Jobs “kept very few things” and would often throw out or give away his possessions, Sheff told Insider before the sandals fetched only $2,000 at auction in 2016.
Since Jobs’ death from cancer in 2011, the Birkenstock sandals have served as a symbol of the Apple cofounder and have been part of multiple exhibitions, including at the Birkenstock Headquarters in Rahms, Germany, in 2017 and at Birkenstock’s first United States store in SoHo, New York.
Crucial Quote
“The sandals were part of his simple side,” Jobs’ ex-partner Chrisann Brennan told Vogue in 2017. “He would never have done or bought anything just to stand out from others. He was simply convinced of the intelligence and practicality of the design and the comfort of wearing it. And in Birkenstocks he didn’t feel like a businessman, so he had the freedom to think creatively.”
Steve Jobs’ Birkenstock sandals sold at Julien’s Auctions’ Idols & Icons Rock N’ Roll auction at the … [+]
Surprising Fact
The Birkenstocks also come with a one-of-a-kind NFT of a 360° digital representation of the sandals.
Big Number
$1.8 million. That’s how much the most expensive shoes ever—Kanye West’s original pair of Yeezy sneaker prototypes—sold for last year.
Our Valuation
We estimated Jobs was worth $7 billion in 2011, the year he died.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/11/15/steve-jobs-old-birkenstocks-from-the-70s-sold-for-218750-at-auction/