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Allbirds made a name for itself by making shoes out of natural fibers like wool and tree pulp that weren’t commonly used to make sneakers in the past. Today the company is stepping in a new direction with a shoe collection called Remix, which is made from a different material: trash. On the surface, the two Remix silhouettes look similar to other Allbirds sneakers: There’s the sporty-looking Runner, and the streetwear-inspired Cruiser. But their familiar exterior belies the fact that they’re actually made entirely from waste. The uppers are made from clothes destined for landfills; the soles are made from scraps of old shoes. And Allbirds is hoping that new materials can make the brand exciting again. The stumbling years Allbirds launched in 2016 and went public in 2021. But over the past three years, its revenues have plummeted. After its 2022 peak of $297.8 million, it generated only $189.8 million in revenue last year. The company is now trying to regain its footing. In March 2024, Allbirds promoted Joe Vernachio from the role of COO to CEO. Vernachio previously led Mountain Hardwear’s turnaround from losses to profitability, and believes he can do the same with Allbirds. Part of the plan involves shrinking the brand’s retail footprint to 21 stores this year from 43 in 2023. But it also involves introducing new and updated products while also telling a story about what the brand represents. The Remix collection encapsulates this strategy. Adrian Nyman, who was hired as the brand’s chief design officer last year, argues that one way to add some excitement to the collection is to branch out into new materials. “I believe we should open up the aperture of the brand by playing with different materials,” he says. “As long as we’re holding true to our commitment to sustainability, we owe the consumer as many permutations of this brand as possible.” That said, given our current moment of economic and political turbulence, many consumers aren’t focused on environmentalism right now. So we’ll have to wait and see how well the Remix collection resonates in the market. Cruiser [Photo: Allbirds] A Shoe That Tells a Story When Allbirds launched a decade ago, the impact of climate change was beginning to sink in, as natural disasters became more frequent. Consumers started to show interest in brands’ environmental practices, which is why many of the startups that popped up during that eraincluding Reformation and Everlanefocused on an eco-friendly approach. But times have changed. According to McKinsey, many brands have seen softer sales over the past two years due to inflation; this has resulted in many of them scaling back their sustainability pledges. Footwear brands across the industry are rolling back their commitment to fight climate change: Nike has laid off dozens of sustainability managers as part of a broader cost-cutting effort, and Crocs has reset its net-zero carbon emissions goal from 2030 to 2040. Nyman says that many consumers appear to be less focused on the planet than they used to be. But he also says it would be a mistake for Allbirdswhich was founded as a sustainable brandto pull back on its commitments to the environment. “Consumers may be distracted right now, and in a bit of a fever dream, but I think the pendulum will swing and people will wake up,” he says. “When that happens we need to show that we stayed the course and remained true to our original charter.” The design team at Allbirds has been thinking about how to expand beyond its portfolio of materials, specifically into the world of recycled materials, which are now more sophisticated than ever. The big shoe brands have experimented with designs made from recycled plastic, such as Nike, with sneakers made using scraps from factory floors, and Adidas, with footwear made from ocean-bound plastic. The startup Rothy’s makes shoes from recycled bottles. But Allbirds wanted to try something different and create shoes using recycled lyocell (sometimes referred to by its brand name, Tencel), which is derived from cellulose, the building block of natural materials like cotton and tree pulp. [Photo: Allbirds] It made sense to partner with Circ, now a leader in textile-to-textile recycling. Circ, which launched in 2011, has developed the technology to break down polyester, cotton, or a blend of the two into its component materials. It then spins these materials into new polyester and lyocell fibers, which it sells to brands. Now its investing in large factories to do the work at scale. It has a factory in Danville, Virginia, and recently announced a $500 million investment to build a new factory in France that will open in 2028. But to ensure these factories stay in business, Circ needs brands to buy its recycled fabric at scale. Circ has partnered with high-fashion labels like Christian Siriano and mass-market brands like Zara to create garments from recycled fibers. To keep growing its customer bse, Circ is keen to illustrate that its materials can also be used to make shoes. According to Peter Majeranowski, Circ cofounder and CEO, fibers used in shoes need to be stronger than those used in garments. Circ transformed the lyocell into filaments, which are much longer than yarn and are therefore less likely to break. The company then used a weaving technique that ensures the fabric is thick but also has some stretch. “Performance footwear has the highest technical standards,” he says. “It was important for us to showcase our technology to illustrate that you can create a filament that is good enough to go into sneakers.” Allbirds also partnered with Blumaka, a company that collects foam waste that is discarded during the production of sneakers and transforms it into foam soles. Some companies transform old soles into furniture; since 1992, Nike has used old foam scraps to make Grind, a material that is used on everything from running tracks to playground flooring. But here, the old foam in shoes is used to make new foam soles, creating a more circular system. For Nyman, this is a way to not only demonstrate the brand’s commitment to sustainability but also create an interesting design twist that he hopes spurs new interest in the brand. “Sustainability doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game, where you have to give up comfort, functionality, or fashion,” he says. “We want to create a product that excites the customer aesthetically.”
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E-Commerce
When times are good and the economy is expanding, companies grow in a variety of ways. They build in some redundancy so that key functions survive even if an employee leaves. They add capacity hoping to grow the size of the core business. They consider new projects or products that might enable the company to enter new markets. All of this is reflected in a growth in the number of employees at the firm. When the economy takes a downturn, leaders immediately look for places to trim costsand the base of workers is often an easy place to start. That is when the layoffs may begin: this year companies have already eliminated 800,000 jobs. So, what can you do to minimize the chances that one will find its way to you? Be good at your job Perhaps the most important thing you can do to protect your job is to be really good at it. When a company first starts to consider downsizing, they usually start by looking for candidates to lay off whose contributions wont be missed that much. So, the first people to go are usually those whose performance has been lackluster. Continue to develop your skills to become expert in your job function and facile with any new technologies that may improve your productivity. Work to stay motivated to provide great service to your team, your clients, and your customers. Even on the days you arent feeling it you still need to bring a positive attitude to your work. Be the kind of person that your leadership notices. That effort will get you past that first round of layoffs that often targets the folks that management is perfectly happy to see walk out the door. Be mission-critical When companies look for ways to trim costs, they often focus on their core businesses. The dreams of new products and services take a back seat to a focus on the central drivers of revenue in the near term. That means the safest place to be in the organization is working on things that are recognized to be mission critical. Take a look at your daily responsibilities. If you have some latitude about where youre spending your time, focus most on those tasks that are easily identified as contributions to the core current drivers of revenue and success. You may have a passion for some of the more innovative or future-focused parts of your job, and you can continue to do some of that work. But, make sure that the bulk of your focus is on projects that are not potentially expendable. Play well with others When high-level leadership wants a reduction in force, they often send headcount or budget targets to managers who then have to identify the people who are let go. When it reaches that stage, managers are in a mindset of rejection. They are thinking about which individuals will not make the cut to stay with the firm. Whenever youre looking to eliminate people (or options) from a set, you tend to focus on the negative characteristics of those options more than the positives. That means that your negatives are going to loom particularly large at that moment. One factor that is easily under your control is whether you are a pleasant colleague to work with. Being nice to others, doing favors, and being a team player puts you in a camp of individuals who make the workplace pleasant rather than unpleasant. So, you are unlikely to stick out of a list of people being considered as potential layoff targets. On top of that, managers are also human. They are likely to give more consideration to people they generally like than to those they dont. Being nice to others wont guarantee youll keep your job, but it will make the decision as difficult as possible for the manager faced with making tough choices.
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Hurricane Erin began pelting part of the Caribbean with rain and wind Monday before it’s expected to churn up dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast this week. Evacuations were being ordered on a few islands along North Carolinas Outer Banks even though the storm is unlikely to make direct landfall. Authorities warned that some roads could be swamped by waves of 15 feet (4.6 meters). The monster storm intensified to a Category 4 with 140 mph (225 kph) maximum sustained winds early Monday while it started to lash the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Forecasters are confident that Erin will turn northeast and away from the eastern U.S., but it’s still expected to produce dangerous waves and rip currents and could bring tropical force winds to the North Carolina coast, said Dave Roberts of the National Hurricane Center. Evacuations were ordered beginning Monday on Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks, coming at the height of tourist season on the thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands that jut far into the Atlantic Ocean. Coastal flooding was expected to begin Tuesday and continue through Thursday. There are concerns that several days of heavy surf, high winds, and waves could wash out parts of the main highway running along the barrier islands, the National Weather Service said. Some routes could be impassible for several days, authorities warned. But there were no signs of panic on Hatteras Island, said Angela Tawes, a co-owner of Conners Supermarket. Its so beautiful outside. Its hard for people to feel like theres a hurricane coming when its so gorgeous, she said. Erin, the years first Atlantic hurricane, reached a dangerous Category 5 status Saturday with 160 mph (260 kph) winds before weakening. It is expected to remain a large, major hurricane into midweek. Youre dealing with a major hurricane. The intensity is fluctuating. Its a dangerous hurricane in any event, the hurricane center’s Richard Pasch said. Early Monday, the storm was located about 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of Grand Turk Island and about 880 miles (1,400 kilometers) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the southeast Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, the hurricane center said. Erins outer bands hit parts of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with heavy rains and tropical-storm winds on Sunday. Scientists have linked the rapid intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic to climate change. Global warming is causing the atmosphere to hold more water vapor and is spiking ocean temperatures, and warmer waters give hurricanes fuel to unleash more rain and strengthen more quickly.
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