Sneaker maker adds wood fibre options

Allbirds, the merino wool shoe company co-founded by former All Whites football skipper Tim Brown, is adding wood fibre to the range of materials it uses for a new range of sneakers, at a time when wool prices have climbed 50%.

San Francisco-based Allbirds started selling its minimalist woollen sneakers direct to consumers in March 2016 and has online operations in the US, New Zealand and Australia and shops in San Francisco and New York.

The company said it is now branching out from wool with a range of forestry-based products, using tencel lyocell, a fibre made from cellulose found in wood pulp.

Allbirds, the world's largest direct-to-consumer footwear brand, began with a research grant from New Zealand's wool industry, and an initial Kickstarter campaign in 2014.

In September last year it raised $US17.5 million ($NZ24million) through US investment firm Tiger Global Management, adding to the $US10million raised in previous funding rounds since 2015, to help pay for further research and development into novel, sustainable materials, plus expand internationally and grow its retail footprint in New Zealand and the US.

"The Tree collection features ethically sourced eucalyptus fibres, which use only 5% of the water and one-third of the land compared to traditional footwear materials," the company said.

The insoles are made from renewable castor bean oil and lined with wool, while the shoelaces are made from recycled bottles.

Allbirds sources its 17.5 micron merino wool fabric from Italian textile mill Successori Reda, which gets about 20% of its wool from New Zealand. However global demand for merino wool amid record low production in Australia and New Zealand has seen prices skyrocket.

The shoe company sources eucalyptus from South African farms that minimise fertiliser and use no irrigation

 - Scoop