I use my footwear as a test. If you don't like me simply because I'm wearing comfortable sandals, then I wouldn't have liked you either and I've saved us both a spot of trouble.
He didn't say he didn't like him. He just doesn't like a facet of his fashion. I don't like Crocs or Uggs. I don't think people look good while wearing them. But that doesn't mean I don't like them.
Birkenstocks are a kind of footwear. Lots of people like them. What's the point of getting affronted by this? Does it make the world anything other than worse?