Allbirds: Tim Brown & Joey Zwillinger

How I Built This · 10 Jun 2019 · 1h 09m

What this episode covers

Tim Brown, a former professional soccer player and designer, and Joey Zwillinger, a former consultant and clean-tech entrepreneur, co-founded Allbirds to create comfortable, sustainable footwear. They launched the Wool Runner using merino wool from New Zealand, initially via a Kickstarter campaign that faced fulfillment nightmares before they partnered up. The duo structured Allbirds as a B Corp with a legal charter embedding environmental responsibility, focusing on direct-to-consumer sales and carbon neutrality through materials like SweetFoam.

Mentioned

Companies
Allbirds, Solazyme, Deloitte
Products
Wool Runner, Orange Screw
Tools
Kickstarter, Shopify
Materials
SweetFoam, Merino wool
Also
University of Cincinnati, Kellogg School of Management, University of Pennsylvania

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