Sneaker Startup Allbirds Debuts Clothing Line

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Silicon Valley’s sneaker startup Allbirds is hoping men and women into minimizing their carbon footprint will pony up for the company’s new sustainable clothing line, according to a report in The Financial Times (FT).

Allbirds new apparel collection includes four different styles for men and women in sizes ranging from XS to XXXL. The unicorn is taking a gamble that environmentally-aware consumers will pay more for clothing created from the latest sustainable materials.

“When we started, [I would say] that people don’t buy sustainable products, they buy great ones,” co-founder and co-chief executive officer Tim Brown of Allbirds told FT.

“Five years later, I would say a product can’t truly be great unless it’s sustainable,” he added.

Allbird’s Wool Runner shoes have flexible soles partly made from sugarcane. A soft t-shirt is made from yarn spun from wool, eucalyptus tree fibers and chitosan, a fiber made from discarded Labrador Sea snow crab shells. Instead of down, its puffer is filled with tree fibers and recycled polyester. The outside of the jacket is created from a mix of merino and eucalyptus fibers and coated with water repellent that is free of the toxic chemical fluorine.

Allbird’s apparel design team is led by Alexa Day Silva, who hails from the activewear startup Outdoor Voices. 

Each garment indicates an estimate of how much carbon was emitted in its production. A woman’s tee, for example, emits 6.3kg of carbon; a men’s puffer, 25kg. The line uses materials that require less carbon and that also have anti-odor features to reduce washing frequency, further reducing the lifetime footprint.

Apparel was “something we walked into,” co-founder Brown told FT.

Last month, the startup closed a $100 million Series E funding round led by Franklin Templeton.  This latest investment puts the company’s value reportedly at $1.7 billion, up slightly from where it was two years ago.

Allbirds has 21 stores worldwide, and is planning 20 more in 2021. The company is also planning to invest in information technology, warehouses, distribution and logistics.