The story of cohesion and an innovative woman.

A SPECIAL RIBBON FOR THE SPECIAL FORCES

BIRKE and the members of the Danish special forces have a long shared history, because for many years the selected few who have passed the admission process for the two corps used a special version of the BIRKE anorak. Therefore, for many of the members, it has also become part of the culture in the corps, and it is often associated with admission to the special brotherhood, which the members have been preparing for and fighting to become a part of for several years.

In fact, the desire to use BIRKE and contribute to developing the training clothing was so strong that the members bought the clothing via the staff associations in the two units - just as is the case today. In this way, they get the opportunity to help develop and design the training clothes that suit them exactly - and BIRKE can continue to contribute to strengthening internal cohesion and the strong common bonds.

IT BEGAN WITH A SLEEPING BAG

BIRKE was founded in 1972 by Kirsten Birke, who was then an elite level orienteering runner.

At the time, training clothes were made of cotton, but Kirsten sewed a running anorak and matching trousers from fabric scraps from sleeping bags. It was something completely new and groundbreaking because the sleeping bag material had a number of functional advantages over cotton when it came to performance-enhancing clothing.

Therefore, the hunter soldier BS Christiansen, who at the time was on the national team in the military pentathlon, also caught the eye of the new training clothes, which he brought into the Hunter Corps in 1973. From here it quickly spread to the Freshman Corps and other special forces.

BIRKE was to prove to be excellent training clothing, and among the special forces, BIRKE was quickly recognized for its functionality and durability.

We have since developed a number of new products that are exclusively designed for the special forces, but at the same time also form the basis for BIRKE being now available to a significantly larger target group.

Welcome to BIRKE.