Allbirds Open First UK Store

“Allbirds, the San Francisco-based shoe brand that makes its trainers out of eucalyptus, wool and sugar cane, is opening its first UK store in London’s Covent Garden on Wednesday and, if the reaction is anything like what’s happened in the States, it’s going to cause a stir,” writes Alison Taylor in an article for The Guardian.

“Since its official launch in March 2016, the brand has sold more than 1m pairs of its original Merino wool trainers” and “last week it was reported the brand secured another round of venture capital commitment to the tune of $50m.”

“According to co-founder, and ex-pro New Zealand soccer player Tim Brown there are three key “pillars” to the brand: minimalist design, which he calls “the right amount of nothing”, comfort, and sustainable manufacturing – in that order.”

“We really didn’t lead with sustainability,” said Brown. “For the first two years, it was very much a secondary part of our story and we focused on comfort and design. Only now, with our third material innovation (…) and having learned a lot more about our impact, have we started to say, this is something we need to talk about more.”

Brown said it took meeting his co-founder and engineer and renewables expert Joey Zwillinger to “realise that this actually wasn’t about shoes”, but about “a revolution in sustainable manufacturing.”

“Outside of the fossil fuel industry”, the fashion industry “is the largest contributor to carbon emissions in the world,” Brown said.

“The footwear industry globally makes 20 billion-plus pairs of shoes a year – it’s an enormous category.”

Article Source: The Guardian, Alison Talor, October 16, 2018

Image Source: Twitter -Allbirds