Allbirds

Sep 15, 2020

Allbirds is a New Zealand-American sustainable apparel and footwear brand. It aims to make the world's most comfortable shoes with natural materials.

The brand was founded in 2014 by ex-soccer player Tim Brown and renewables expert Joey Zwillinger. It has quickly grown from an online retailer to a massive global brand.

Allbirds is now a global brand serving 35 countries, with 21 brick-and-mortar stores worldwide. It strives to design environmentally friendly footwear.

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Sustainability Rating: 4/10

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Category: Clothing, shoes, accessories

For: Women, men

Type: Basics, sneakers, underwear

Style: Casual

Quality: Medium

Price: $$

Sizes: S-2XL, 8-14 (US), 7-13 (UK), 40-46 (EU), 9-15 (AU)

Fabrics: Lyocell, nylon, polyester, bioplastic, bio-polyurethane, wool

100% Organic: No

100% Vegan: No

Ethical & Fair: No

Recycling: Yes

Producing country: not transparent enough

Certifications: FSC, B Corp, ZQ

Sustainability Practices

"Our ambition is to be like a tree, leaving the environment cleaner than we found it. That's why we believe in the power of natural materials, and their potential to transform ecosystems. We’re looking beyond carbon neutrality, which means eventually, our business will be carbon negative."

Allbirds reduces energy consumption and carbon emissions in manufacturing compared to traditional sneakers. It uses materials such as recycled nylon and recycled polyester made from PET bottles that lower plastic pollution by diverting waste from landfills and oceans.

Allbirds also uses Tencel Lyocell, a semi-synthetic regenerated cellulosic fiber made with wood pulp from FSC certified sustainable forests. Some of the innovative materials found in its shoes are bio-foam made from castor bean oil, and bio-polyurethane made from sugarcane.

Allbirds doesn't provide any information regarding how it chooses its network of suppliers, or if any audits are conducted to ensure social standards, living wages, good working conditions, and identify potential risk areas.

Allbirds doesn't use any exotic animal skin, or hair, fur, angora, down, or leather. But it uses ZQ Merino wool to manufacture its apparel and footwear.

Wool production has a disastrous impact on the environment. The farming and processing of wool produce greenhouse gases and wastes. Wool isn't an ethical or sustainable fiber.

It's the fifth most harmful material used in textile products for the environment, worse than synthetic fibers such as polyester, acrylic, viscose rayon, elastane, and nylon.

Sustainability Goals

Allbirds is committed to reducing its carbon footprint and overall impact on the planet. It plans to become 100% carbon neutral through its Carbon Fund.

It's a self-imposed carbon tax which invests in emissions reductions projects such as regenerative agriculture, wind farms, and landfill gas destruction.

Allbirds doesn't show any measurement of its water usage, pollution, and waste across its supply chain. It doesn't have any clear sustainability goal, science-based target, or timeline to improve in the future either.