Tim Brown founder of Allbirds. Image by Peter Prato.
In a move towards increased transparency and awareness of the impact of our fashion choices, Allbirds is the first fashion brand to introduce carbon footprint labeling for its popular shoes. The majority of us are mostly unaware of how much carbon is put into the atmosphere in general much less the specifics involved in fashion production and Allbirds is hoping by making us aware we’ll make good choices going forward. The brand’s hope is that one day shoppers will compare carbon numbers at the mall like they do nutritional labels in grocery aisles.
Last year, Allbirds introduced their Carbon Fund which is subsidised by Allbirds’ self-imposed tax which maintains the brand’s 100% carbon neutrality. The fund is used to support 100% carbon neutrality by funding verified emissions reduction projects across air, wind and energy to counter the carbon emissions produced by the business. This new carbon labeling step adds another level of visibility and a way for their customers to think about their own carbon emissions too as Allbirds believe that their customers deserve to know how their purchases impact the environment.
To figure out this labeling, Allbirds developed a Life Cycle Assessment tool with third-party carbon experts to meticulously measure the carbon intensity of every decision the brand makes. Everything was considered from materials to development, manufacturing, and end of life of each product. This was all done because you can’t reduce what you don’t measure.
To put that into perspective, the average carbon footprint number across all Allbirds products is 7.6. For the brand’s signature Wool Runners it’s 7.1 which equates to 5 dryer loads or 22 chocolate bars or 967 smartphone charges. When you start thinking about your carbon emissions it’s amazing how quickly they add up but the more environmentally choices we make the quicker it goes down too. With this new initiative Allbirds are once again leading the way in environmental fashion innovation.
Images supplied.