The Allbirds Meltdown: Even Sneaker Brands Can’t Outrun AI

👟 Allbirds, the once popular wool sneaker brand and sustainability leader has sold its assets and is pivoting to become an AI company. That’s right, an AI company. No, that is not a joke, and yes, it means we have reached peak absurdity. I hate giving this story any airtime, but it’s a sign of the times. I personally don’t see the selling off of Allbirds as a general failure for sustainability-minded brands, but rather a failure of the model for venture-backed-to-IPO businesses with ever-increasing expectations of growth on ever-decreasing supplies of Earth’s resources and ever-diminishing returns on people’s mindshares and appetites for incessant newness (for those who see through that game, on the latter).

Perhaps Allbirds could have sustained a fine, comfortable existence with profitable growth over time, had they better managed their fundraising strategy and stuck to their limited, core product of better-made sneakers, avoided fast global expansion, and perhaps even pursued revenue from their materials innovations. They were contributing positively to the fashion and footwear industries, impressively pursuing zero carbon manufacturing and renewable materials that wouldn’t poison the Earth. They were genuinely thoughtful and transparent about their environmental efforts, drawing attention to climate change and fashion waste while working towards real solutions. They IPO’d as a Public Benefit Corporation, which served as an example (though as aforementioned, probably wasn’t smart to go public). And they open-sourced their net zero carbon production findings to provide access to anyone in an effort to normalize environmentally responsible business practices.

But they were clearly expected to grow unsustainably, which runs counter to their entire business model of having a lighter impact on our planet, and being intentional in business decisions. Those are values that don’t align with VC ‘values’. So instead, Allbirds expanded their product lines, got into apparel, opened multiple physical retail stores globally, and diluted their brand. Surely, much more happened behind the scenes to lead to their demise. It’s just really unfortunate that a ‘better’ brand had to fall, and I’m sure that many irresponsible business minds will place a great deal of blame on Allbirds’ environmentally responsible positioning. I stand by believing the blame lies more with their financing choices and consequential growth expectations than with their sustainability goals.

I haven’t even touched on the pivot to AI. If the world didn’t need more sneakers, it surely doesn’t need more companies slapping those two ominous letters onto their names (technically the new company will be called NewBird AI). But the VC-influenced push to take over the world with their unnecessary and societally unconsented tech in order to manufacture growth for the sake of inflating their own egos and pockets is the siren song most startups cannot resist. Apparently, even the sneaker ones.