<p>Kiwi founded global footwear brand Allbirds has announced its first New Zealand store. The sustainable value brand will settle into its new nest in Auckland’s Britomart set for August 15.</p>
<p>It’s time for New Zealand’s entrepreneurs to remove the wool from their eyes and see the many potential uses for our own natural fibres, New Zealand Merino Company says. While companies like Allbirds and Firewire Surfboards are paving the way for innovative ways to use wool, to help fast-track the revival of this material, the organisation has opened an innovation space in the heart of Christchurch city to develop creative business ideas and encourage more wool and fibre-based businesses to arise in Aotearoa. We chat with CEO John Brakenridge about the opportunity for the both the start-up sector and the agriculture industry.</p>
<p>Allbirds' co-founder Tim Brown stands awkwardly in an elevator and pitches his latest product, a comfortable, strong, customisable and carbon-negative jandal made from sugar cane. </p> <p></p> <p></p>
<p>Idealog's sister title The Register recently held its Hotlist Awards and chose the best in the retail business across a whole bunch of categories. Among the winners were a few clever brands that understand the value of investing in quality design and architecture if they hope to lure the shoppers. Here's why they took the titles. </p>
<p>First there were <a href="https://idealog.co.nz/venture/2016/10/new-zealand-woollen-sneaker-company-allbirds-um-flying">shoes made of merino</a> in 2016. Then came <a href="https://idealog.co.nz/design/2018/03/allbirds-rolls-out-its-most-sustainable-product-yet-shoes-made-trees">shoes made of trees</a> earlier this year. Now Allbirds has launched its latest comfortable, sustainable foot-based innovation: customisable jandals made from sugar cane. Co-founder Tim Brown tells Ben Fahy how the Sugar Zeffer range came about, how the SweetFoam material could make a dent in the environmentally unfriendly shoe universe and whether there will be any need for the classic bread-tag-to-fix-the-jandal-blow-out trick with this new range. </p>
<p><span data-scayt-lang="en_US" data-scayt-word="Allbirds">Allbirds</span> co-founder Tim Brown was in town this week to unveil the footwear company’s latest innovation – shoes made from eucalyptus fibre.</p>
<p>Have you ever wondered why shoes don’t grow on trees? Well the team behind Allbirds did, their curiosity leading the company to ‘branch out’ with their new shoe collection made from eucalyptus pulp.</p>
<p>Our <span data-scayt-lang="en_US" data-scayt-word="favourite">favourite</span> <span data-scayt-lang="en_US" data-scayt-word="woollen">woollen</span> shoes, <span data-scayt-lang="en_US" data-scayt-word="Allbirds">Allbirds</span>, and one of our <span data-scayt-lang="en_US" data-scayt-word="favourite">favourite</span> Auckland eating establishments, Coco's Cantina, are coming together, giving locals an opportunity to get up close and personal with the brand at its first Auckland pop-up store. PLUS: Allbirds flies to Australia. </p> <div></div> <p></p> <p></p>
<p>After battling requests for a line of shoes made for kids, Allbirds has given the punters what they desire and launched a limited edition children's footwear range called Smallbirds. And in the spirit of creative overachieving, co-founder Joey Zwillinger has written a children's picture book about a sheep called <em>Sadie Shaves the Day </em>that will be given out for free with each purchase of a pair of shoes.</p> <p></p>
<p>Turns out retail's not dead: Silicon Valley’s most beloved woollen sneaker, Allbirds, has opened a second store in Soho, New York. Its first store was opened in April in San Francisco – and more stores are on the horizon, including here in New Zealand. </p>
<p>Everyone loves <a href="https://www.allbirds.com/"><a href="https://www.allbirds.com/">Allbirds</a></a>, right? That’s what the New Zealand-made, San Francisco-based wool shoe company is betting on, anyway – and they’ve raised US$17.5 million to continue developing water-resistant wool shoes and expand internationally.</p>
<p>A year on after Allbirds launched its Wool Runner shoe, the brand is flying high, from celebrity endorsements to a Purple Pin at the Best Awards. This week, the company expanded its product offering with the Wool Lounger - the more fashion-conscious cousin of the Wool Runner. Founder Tim Brown has a chat about the new product's design.</p> <div title="Page 23"> <div> <div> <div> <p></p> </div> </div> </div> </div>
<p>Woolen shoe company Allbirds may now be a major international brand, but it’s not forgetting its Aotearoa roots – at least not if its role in a recent eight-day festival in Wellington is any indication.</p>
<p>In the latest edition of our series asking some of Aotearoa's best-known businesspeople and visionaries to take a step back and offer their insights on how the past year has gone and how the future might unfold, we chat with <a href="https://www.allbirds.co.nz/?gclid=CImsoI_G_9ACFc0IKgodcR8Gcg">Allbirds</a>' Tim Brown.</p>
<p>To mark the arrival of the <a href="https://xone.vodafone.co.nz/">Vodafone </a><a href="https://xone.vodafone.co.nz/">xone</a><a href="https://xone.vodafone.co.nz/"> business accelerator</a>, <em>Idealog</em> is interviewing heaps of established New Zealand innovators, as well as the founders of the 10 startups selected by Vodafone to receive mentorship, funding and the potential benefits of working with a global network. In this edition, publisher and editorial director Ben Fahy dials in to San Francisco to speak with Tim Brown, ex-pro footballer and co-founder of hot-to-trot, New Zealand born, woollen shoe brand Allbirds, <a href="https://idealog.co.nz/venture/2016/10/new-zealand-woollen-sneaker-company-allbirds-um-flying">which recently won big at the Best Awards</a>. </p>
<p>To mark its Best Awards 2016 win last Friday, Idealog is republishing this story on Allbirds, the woollen sneaker company that isn't sheepish about its goals.</p>
2023 is the year of supporting communities and two fundraising start-ups have launched to make it easier for Kiwis to donate and show support.
In a recent survey, Kiwis believe New Zealand is progressive in being sustainable and innovative in what the country has to offer.
<p>Idealog is one of the few media brands dedicated to celebrating New Zealand’s special brand of creativity. The New Zealand Merino Company has helped transform the sheep industry from a faceless commodity into a supplier for premium global brands. So, like Allbirds and Icebreaker are to merino farmers, we've teamed up to to celebrate the opening of its Studio ZQ innovation space in Christchurch and our design community’s talents by asking our audience to design a product that harnesses the potential of strongwool. The winner will win two all-expenses paid trips worth more than $7000: a five-day trip to Christchurch to develop their idea, and a five-day trip to San Francisco, USA to meet with US-based innovation experts. Read on to find out more.</p> <p></p> <p></p>
<p>Over the course of time, innovators have introduced new ideas into existence to transform the way we live, the way we work and the way we play. We celebrated our country’s wide array of creative individuals last year with the launch of <a href="https://idealog.co.nz/casestudies/idealogs-most-creative-people-our-winners">Idealog’s Most Creative</a>, and this year, we’re showcasing New Zealand’s most forward-thinking companies through <a href="https://icgmedia.typeform.com/to/lfDD9A">Idealog’s Most Innovative</a> – but entries are closing soon. Read on to find out how to get involved. </p>
<p>Hey, Yeezy: we hear you’re getting into the VC game. Let’s join forces.</p>
<p>The Idea Log, Idealog's spirit 'animal', is back. And this time, it's here to propose some coping mechanisms for entrepreneurs who are dealing with some common startup ailments. Because business isn't all beer and Skittles...</p>
<p>Idealog's spirit animal, The Idea Log – an anthropomorphic log that offers our readers million dollar ideas and inspiring inspiration in every issue – shares his views on the year that was and the years that could be. </p>
<p>The co-founders of Wellington production company <a href="https://www.wrestler.nz/">Wrestler</a> recently travelled around the real world to look at the future of the virtual world. In part three of the series, Ben Forman recounts his time in San Francisco, revels in the love everyone seems to have for New Zealand and has an epiphany about the state of the industry. </p>
<p>Corporate sustainability is still viewed as something to be celebrated when a business steps up. Step Changers founder Rosie Collins argues we should make it become a plain, boring expectation of every company, big or small.</p>