Sustainability All Stars: Allbirds

If you haven’t heard of Allbirds yet, you will soon. Kiwi, Tim Brown, together with engineer Joey Swillinger created Allbirds, a footwear company creating a range to suit your everyday needs, from loungers to runners. What is special about the brand is the materials they use and the sustainable nature of their process. All of their shoes are lightweight, odor minimising, machine washable and made in a low carbon footprint model. They come in tree and wool, the former has a “silk-smooth feel” shoes “ and is made eucalyptus pulp, whereas the latter uses merino wool to create “breathable, temperature-regulating, and moisture-wicking, all without that irritating scratchiness”. In the spirit of doing things differently, the brand’s products have no giant logos and come with a confident 30-day trial run. They are sure that their high quality highly conscious shoes will become your new favourites.

In a world where fast fashion with artificial materials is common, high-quality materials are difficult to find, but this New Zealand company has all the qualifications. can prove that their manufacturing processes are as green and mean as they claim. They source their wool from ZQ merino which ensures the sheep and farming practices are conscious of animal and environmental welfare. Their Forest Stewardship Council certification means that they meet high standards for protecting forests, animals, and people when sourcing materials from forests. On top of all that they are also a certified B Corp, as they respect the environment during the creation of products. The shoe eyelets are TPU created by microorganisms feeding on plants, castor bean oil becomes the insoles and reused plastic bottle transform into pairs of shoelaces. Overall, the packaging Allbirds uses is 90% recycled, and the energy required to create a pair of shoes is just 60% of the energy that would be used for synthetic shoes.