Sustainable Sneaker Brand Allbirds Files for IPO
Allbirds filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The company has applied to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BIRD.
The eco-friendly brand has become notable in recent years for its focus on footwear made from sustainably sourced materials, such as tree fiber, sugarcane and crab shells. Allbirds launched its sustainable activewear collection earlier this month and its Wool Runner silhouette features a SweetFoam sole, made from a carbon-negative green ethylene-vinyl acetate, or EVA.
Allbirds was founded in 2015 with a goal to create footwear and apparel that is better for the planet. In its Tuesday filing, the company said it hopes to lead the way for a “Sustainable Public Equity Offering, or SPO,” which works with third-party organizations to make sure companies have well-defined environmental and social goals as they go public.
Allbirds said a framework like this will help “prioritize positive outcomes” for stockholders as well as stakeholders such as “employees, customers, the community and the environment.”
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Since 2015, Allbirds has sold more than eight million pairs of shoes to over 4 million customers across the globe. This includes 3.3 million customers in the U.S. Net revenue grew from $126 million in 2018 to $219.3 million in 2020. The company just opened its 30th retail store in Atlanta, which allows customers to see the carbon footprint of each product on display.
A lawsuit filed against Allbirds earlier this summer in a New York federal court claimed that the company’s sustainability-focused marketing is misleading. Plaintiff Patricia Dwyer alleged in the complaint that Allbirds’ marketing is “false, deceptive and misleading” compared to the reality of its operations, The Fashion Law reported.
