Birkenstock said it is halting direct deliveries for orders from Amazon in Europe because it believes the internet commerce giant has not done enough to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods on its site.
The family-owned company, famous for its trademark cork-soled sandals, widened a ban that has been in effect in the U.S. since January.
The German company said, “There have been a series of violations of the law on the Marketplace platform operated by Amazon which the platform operator has failed to prevent of its own accord.”
The shoemaker added it had launched a number of complaints against Amazon alleging the sale of fake goods on the online platform that violated Birkenstock trademark rights and misled consumers.
Instead of responding to the complaints, Birkenstock claimed, “there were further legal violations of a different nature in recent months which Amazon failed to proactively prevent.”
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Birkenstock said it would halt business with Amazon in Europe starting on Jan. 1 of the new year.
Amazon was not immediately available for comment.
In November Birkenstock launched its first company-owned U.K. store on Neal Street in London’s Covent Garden. This followed the launching of pop-up Birkenstock Box concept stores in Milan and Berlin this past summer and an New York City pop-up, run in collaboration with Barneys from September through Dec. 24. A permanent New York store is also said to be in the works for opening in the near future.
