Dive Brief:
- Footwear brand Allbirds has launched a collection based on reclaimed foam scraps and recycled polycotton waste, turning that prior waste into a new “remixed” line of shoes, according to an Aug. 19 announcement.
- The collection is a collaboration with Blumaka, which makes insoles from recycled footwear foam scraps, and Circ, a textile-to-textile recycling company.
- The collection includes two styles, the Runner NZ Remix and Cruiser Remix. The release comes weeks after the company reported falling revenues and altered its full-year revenue guidance.
Dive Insight:
Once famously the favorite shoe of Silicon Valley tech executives and Barack Obama, Allbirds has faced highs and lows over the years. Debuting on the market with an IPO of $15 per share in 2021, stock prices surged the first day of trading to raise the company’s value to $4.1 billion. But Allbirds’ stock prices declined steadily in 2022 and in the spring of 2024 sank to less than $1 for 30 days straight in the spring of 2024, prompting a delisting warning from Nasdaq.
Allbirds opened 45 stores by late 2023, but cut back to 21 after reporting a 15% sales drop that year. Once a purely direct-to-consumer brand, Allbirds scurried to pursue a distributor model globally as sales faltered.
On Aug. 7, the company reported its Q2 revenue fell 23.1% year over year to $39.7 million, largely due to store closures, and it lowered its full-year revenue guidance by nearly 7%.
The new collection debuts just weeks later and continues Allbirds’ approach of spotlighting sustainability, which began with their original Wool Runners made from wool and a sugarcane midsole instead of petroleum-derived foam. The Remix line of shoes present “two artful, visually distinct silhouettes that require no compromise on comfort, sustainability, or style,” according to the press release.
“To us, ‘better things in a better way’ means that we’re not tied to one technology or one method of making — we have a limitless curiosity that inspires us to explore unexpected approaches,” said Allbirds Chief Design Officer Adrian Nyman in the press release. “Remix is the next step in our innovation journey, delivering on sustainable design that enhances both look and feel.”
Allbirds has so far staved off a 2023 lawsuit filed by shareholders who alleged the brand strayed from its core products.
The Remix shoes use Blumaka midsoles, which are made from reclaimed foam scraps from athletic footwear manufacturing that are ground and molded into a recycled foam blend. This process uses 99% less water and emits 65% less carbon dioxide than traditional foam production, while rescuing material that would otherwise end up in landfills, according to the press release.
The uppers are made from Circ’s Filament Lyocell, which uses a proprietary hydrothermal recycling process to separate and recover cotton and polyester fibers from blended garments. Unlike recycling water bottles into T-shirts, textile-to-textile recycling poses complex technical challenges and cost barriers. Nevertheless, Circ raised $25 million in its latest funding round in March, and in May announced plans to open a $500 million factory in France by 2028, as reported by Reuters.
Allbirds holds a B Corp certification from B Lab, which requires the company to meet high standards for environmental and social performance and commit to transparency and accountability. The sustainable footwear brand’s former director of sustainability, Aileen Lerch, left the company in July to become net-zero program manager for social media and tech giant Meta, according to her LinkedIn.
