Good News: We Can Expect More Great Things From Allbirds in the Near Future

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard of the sneakers that are taking the world by storm: Allbirds. Sleek, comfy and (perhaps most impressively) sustainable, the New Zealand-based brand’s shoes have garnered a cult-like following since their debut just four years ago. Today, Allbirds now stocks two fabrics: Classic wool, and the new “tree” textile which is made from—you guessed it—Eucalyptus tree pulp. And while these non-traditional materials may at first sound a little “out there”, the popularity of the shoes suggests that the brand is onto something that’s not only new… But also better.

With the release of the brand’s new “Tree Runners” in April, it’s fair to say that Allbirds has been a big topic of conversation around the Who What Wear Australia office lately. And while we do love discussing the fact that the tree runner comes in the It colour of 2018, lavender, we’re also equally impressed by the brand’s efforts to change the dialogue where fashion and sustainability are concerned—and we’re not the only ones. As it turns out, everyone seems to be obsessing over the brand, including some of the world’s most stylish celebrities.

Knowing that behind every successful brand lies an impressive story, we couldn’t help but want to learn more about the background of our favourite shoes. So we went straight to the source. Speaking with the Allbirds founders, Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger. From how the two met to what we can expect in the future, we covered it all. Good news for everyone, Brown told us that this is just the beginning of the Allbirds journey, so it sounds like we can expect more great things from the brand in the near future.

Until then, keep scrolling to learn how Brown and Zwillinger built the iconic brand and get a few hints about what we can expect to see from Allbirds next.

How did you two meet and turn the initial vision into a shared project?

Tim Brown: We met through our wives, who were college roommates and remain great friends. I had this idea about making comfortable, well-designed shoes out of wool, which I had put up on Kickstarter and got an unbelievable response to. It was clear that the market was ripe for something more versatile, more sustainable, and more comfortable than ever before. Knowing I couldn’t do this on my own, my wife suggested I meet Joey, a former engineer and renewables expert, to discuss how we could possibly work together. A few days of long walks in the hills of Marin County and a homemade lamb stew later, and the rest is history.

You recently launched your Tree Runners, do you imagine the brand continuing to grow and experimenting with new textiles?

Joey Zwillinger: Right from the start, we never viewed Allbirds as strictly a footwear company—our mission has always been to create better things in a better way. We are, first and foremost, a sustainable material innovations company, so we’ll continue researching and developing new and better ways to build products people use everyday.

Did you ever imagine that Allbirds would catch on as the phenomenon it is today?

TB: It’s been incredibly humbling to see the excitement around Allbirds from such a wide range of customers. We created this brand out of the idea that consumers would respond to a product that provided comfort, style, and sustainability in equal measure, and we’ve been blown away by the support we’ve received.

Was sustainability always a primary aim, or was it just a natural byproduct of the materials you were interested in using?

TB: Sustainability has always been at the core of our mission. We launched Allbirds with just one shoe, and this narrow focus allowed us to invest time, research and resources into creating a more sustainable product right from the beginning. Being a New Zealand native, this started with the ZQ Certified Merino we use in our Wool Runner. As we’ve grown, we’ve continued to focus on developing and using renewable materials, like the FSC Certified Eucalyptus fibre that makes up our latest Tree range.

Do you think that a big part of the appeal of Allbirds is in the brand’s sustainable practices?

JZ: We are seeing a new generation of consumers who are demanding to know the provenance and environmental impact of the things they are buying and wearing. While sustainability is increasingly important to buyers, we still believe that you need to create a stylish, high-quality, and comfortable product if you want it to have widespread appeal. That’s why we’re so proud to create shoes that are both much kinder on the environment, and look and feel amazing.

When you first started sharing your idea for wool shoes with others, what was the reaction like? Did people take to it, or were you faced with scepticism?

TB: I was living in London at the time, and when I would tell people what I was trying to do, I definitely faced a lot of scepticism. Nobody had made shoes from wool before, and the common belief was that it couldn’t be done—especially in a stylish way. The nearly ubiquitous use of synthetics and leathers in footwear had informed what people thought was possible and consumers wanted, but I truly believed that providing buyers with a better, more sustainable alternative could have a real impact on the industry.

Everyone (from those who know nothing about fashion, to the world’s chicest celebrities) seems to be obsessed with your shoes. What about them do you think is so universally appealing?

TB: We have been very lucky to have some amazing celebrities support us from the likes of Emma Watson, Matthew McConaughey, Amy Adams, Ryan Gosling, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. One of our main beliefs is the power of designing less rather than more—what we call the right amount of nothing—and it seems this is just what the over-designed and over-logoed footwear category needed. Our simplicity allows people to add their own style and expression to our shoes, which we love seeing!

Do you think you’ll ever branch into other shoe styles like sandals or boots?

TB:  We definitely will continue to grow and expand our product lines, but we can’t give anything away just yet. Stay tuned!

How have you scaled the business?

TB: We’ve been able to scale the business really well by having a big vision from the beginning. That big vision helped us choose partners and processes that we could scale with. Having the courage to plan for success and be ambitious in early supply chain decisions have been very important to us. This mentality has also impacted the way we’ve built our team and from the very beginning, we’ve tried to get fantastic people who have been through rapid growth or experienced our type of business at scale. Fortunately, we have been able to attract an amazing team and that is the most important piece to get right.

Where do you see the future of the brand going in the future?

JZ: As a material innovation company, our goal is to continue to build better things in a better way and provide consumers with smarter, more sustainable products. We’re excited to explore how else we can rethink materials and products to bring a higher level of design, comfort, and environmentalism to our customers’ everyday lives.

What’s the biggest challenge you faced when getting the brand off the ground? The most rewarding moment?

TB: There have been so many. I think at the very beginning I massively underestimated how difficult it would be to make a shoe. Making anything is hard but unlike a t-shirt, footwear is highly technical and very hard to do well. On top of that, we have been from the very beginning trying to make shoes out of materials not traditionally used in footwear, so the challenge of doing that well before anything else took several years.

The most rewarding moments come every day when I see people wearing the shoes and hear about them enjoying them, and it never gets old. Often that praise comes with additional feedback and ideas of how to improve, so those conversations are both rewarding and good reminders of how much better we can be. I really think the journey is really only beginning for us.

What’s the biggest piece of advice you’d give someone looking to launch their own brand?

TB: One, the worst thing you can do is ignore feedback. You should be seeking it from all corners as often and as broadly as you can. The bit I think people overlook is taking on too much of that feedback is just about as bad as not soliciting it in the first place. Pick and choose what you listen to. Have the courage to improve and iterate your idea and point of view but also the courage not to dilute it.

Secondly, and somewhat related, I would focus on doing one or two things really well and say no to everything else. We’ve had the courage to say no to 95 percent of things and focus. I think that discipline has been a big part of any success we’ve had.

If you're feeling inspired to shop some Allbirds yourself, check out all the styles on the brand's website 

Related: Even Celebs Love Wearing These Sustainable Sneakers