You buy this with the idea that your Birkenstocks are well made and will last nearly forever. When I grew up (25yr ago) this was the case. People would send them back in for repair. However, things change and now Birkenstocks are cheaply made and still riding on their outdated reputation. Don't get me wrong - I still buy Birkenstocks, but they're now just another disposable object. After 18 months of wear they look terrible, the rubber soles come off from the cork and the cork itself seems much cheaper made and just shreds apart.

I bought this cork saver for my new Birkenstocks, thinking maybe it was somehow my fault - and this would protect them. As far as I can tell this did absolutely nothing except waste my money on the purchase, waste my time putting it on my shoes, and waste my time writing this review (and yours for reading it).

Would be happy to pay more for quality Birkenstocks - but looks like they've gone the way of Craftsman tools and other brands that used to guarantee quality. Buy them, when they look like crap - toss them.