allbirds

Very thoughtful insight. We have a saying internally that helps drive design that is, "Plastic from petroleum is stupid." And that includes recycled plastics. Recycled plastic is definitely better than virgin plastics from oil, but it won't solve our problem. We must use renewable materials from nature to solve it. And when agriculture or farming is involved in bringing those materials to life, the farming practices must be regenerative. We are spending a lot of time and money to develop regeneratively farmed components for all our products... if we do that successfully, farmers can sequester carbon dioxide and other greenhouse warming gases in the soil, and keep them there. Pretty cool. Gives me optimism because it doesn't require any new tools or innovations -- the solution is sitting in front of us now.

Durability is super important. To ensure we get it right, we take an "all of the above" strategy. When it comes to the top part of shoes -- "uppers" as we call them in the biz -- we perform lab testing at the yarn level, and then the fabric level with cool machines that pull on the fabric for days and measure stretch and rebound. Then, we put them on this amazingly cool machine in our offices that simulates a person running or walking for thousands of miles so we "accelerate" a wear test. And, there's really nothing like real world wear tests with actual runners who put in 100 miles a week in our products.

On leather, it does last a long time, but it's not good for the environment. The way most cattle are raised contributes significantly to global warming, since it is not generally done in a regenerative fashion. And the chrome tanning processes are also harmful for other reasons, and not good for the people who work in the tanneries. This is why we invested in a company called Natural Fiber Welding who have created the world's first 100% nature, plant-based leather, which we call Plant Leather -- it promises to reduce emissions by 98% v. bovine leather, outlast and outperform traditional leather, and require no plastic additives for the finished product. (I'm wearing a prototype RIGHT NOW!).

Oooh. Great one. This is a really exciting partnership and one that is non-traditional -- or put another way, competitors don't usually collaborate in the shoe world. I can't say much, but I'll tell you that there is some very exciting news on this coming in the very near future.

Great question! We actually made a size 19 for Steven Adams once which was about the size of one of my kids -- he's from New Zealand and plays in the NBA, so we thought it would be fun. The unfortunate answer is that we don't have plans right now to expand our shoe size range further, but we would love to if we can make it work. Please email [email protected] and we can let you know if/when it changes!

The Lilac-Breasted Roller! It looks incredibly plain when it's sitting on a tree or a wire, and then when it flies off it turns into this beautiful purply/blue/lilac color. So... humble till it spreads its wings and flies!