Why young consumers love Birkenstocks | The drug-dealers leading a public-health revolution | The culture wars have come to Canada

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Why young consumers love Birkenstocks - The Economist

IN THE BLOCKBUSTER “Barbie” film, the Birkenstock is more than a shoe. It is a symbol of the real world not run by girls. It is introduced as a deliberately drab antithesis of Barbie’s perfect stiletto. By the film’s end the titular blonde is wearing the cork sandal—with the hallmark double-strap in her signature pink—as she walks into her new life, no longer a doll but a woman ready to put her best foot forward.

Barbie is not the only one swapping heels for contoured soles. So are real-life youngsters. Birkenstock’s revenues have doubled in the past three years, to $1.4bn. Almost half of last year’s sales came courtesy of buyers in their 20s and 30s. Some of that is down to clever product placement—social-media mentions of Birkenstocks reached a record high in July around the time of the “Barbie” premiere. A lot more has to do with a post-pandemic fashion for all things casual and comfortable, especially among Millennials and Gen-Zs, which has boosted sales of other ungainly casual-chic footwear, such as furry Ugg boots or Croc sandals.

What is cool with the kids proved hot with some investors. On October 10th Birkenstock raised $1.5bn in an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange, valuing the firm at around $9bn.

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The drug-dealers leading a public-health revolution - The Economist

On a hot Sunday in July, a woman in her late 30s called Phoenix entered an unmarked shop in downtown Vancouver and approached the counter. “I’ll have a half gram of cocaine, please,” she said. The proprietor scanned a barcode: C$33 (around $24.50), a bargain for the drug at this purity. The packaging promised unadulterated coke – “no cut/no buff” – above a warning that the product is highly addictive, may impair driving ability and should be kept away from children and pets.

Phoenix then gathered complimentary supplies from across the room: syringes, needles, paper filters, tissues and a small cooking spoon. She carried them to a sanitised metal table, where she liquefied and mixed the cocaine with fentanyl – a powerful synthetic opioid she had bought from her usual dealer – to create the rush she wanted, and drew the solution into a syringe. She jumped up and down, twirling an invisible skipping rope to improve her blood flow. Then she sat down, inserted a needle above the knuckle of her index finger and injected.

Eris Nyx, one of the store’s managers, looked on from the cash point. She runs the shop with Jeremy Kalicum, who was in the back office weighing and packaging cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. “The fact that we’re not in jail is unbelievable,” said Eris. “I think about that every day.”

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The culture wars have come to Canada - The Economist

On October 10th Scott Moe, the conservative premier of Saskatchewan, Canada’s breadbasket province, summoned lawmakers back to their legislature two weeks early to deal with an emergency. No withering blight had tainted the province’s vital grain stores. There was no looming peril to its vital potash industry. The threat was more mundane: that pupils under 16 can choose their preferred name or pronoun at school, without having to get the consent of their parents.

According to Statistics Canada, just 0.19% of Canadians over the age of 15 identify as transgender. Even fewer, 0.14%, are non-binary. Yet pronouns are becoming a big issue for right-wingers across the country. Doug Ford, the conservative premier of Ontario, has claimed that school boards are indoctrinating children by letting them choose their pronouns without asking their parents. Similarly, earlier this summer Blaine Higgs, the conservative premier of New Brunswick, retroactively changed his province’s education policy to ensure parental consent is mandatory before a student changes their pronoun.

Mr Moe is going much further. His provincial government introduced a new policy requiring parental consent in August. In September Michael Megaw, a judge, decided to delay the legislation as it could cause “irreparable harm”. According to Mr Megaw, there was little evidence that the education ministry had discussed the policy with teachers, parents or students.

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Showdown in Hyperpolarized America - The New Yorker

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