{"id":138024,"date":"2019-11-26T17:42:55","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T14:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-7726867\/Eco-friendly-shoe-manufacturer-Allbirds-blasts-Jeff-Bezos-strikingly-similar-Amazon-shoe.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ito=1490&ns_campaign=1490"},"modified":"2019-11-26T17:42:55","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T14:42:55","slug":"eco-friendly-shoe-manufacturer-allbirds-blasts-jeff-bezos-over-strikingly-similar-amazon-shoe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wardoon.net\/so\/eco-friendly-shoe-manufacturer-allbirds-blasts-jeff-bezos-over-strikingly-similar-amazon-shoe\/","title":{"rendered":"Eco-friendly shoe manufacturer Allbirds blasts Jeff Bezos over ‘strikingly similar’ Amazon shoe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Allbirds<\/div>\n

\"Allbirds<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Allbirds co-founder and co-CEO Joey Zwillinger has complained that Amazon are undermining sustainability efforts<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The founder of Allbirds, a sustainable and eco-friendly shoe brand, has blasted Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for releasing a running shoe that looks ‘strikingly similar’ to Allbirds’ flagship ‘Wool Runner<\/a>‘ trainers.<\/p>\n

Speaking to CNN<\/a>‘s Christiane Amanpour last week, Allbirds co-CEO Joey Zwillinger said that his start-up company could not compete with the billionaire’s corporation, saying that the situation was not a ‘fair fight.’ <\/p>\n

On Monday, Zwillinger added to the row by publishing an open letter<\/a> on blogging site Medium, saying ‘we are flattered at the similarities that your private label shoe shares with ours.’ <\/p>\n

Zwillinger also condemned Amazon for undermining their attempts to create a more sustainable method of manufacturing footwear, saying that they ‘hoped the commonalities would include these environmentally-friendly materials’ <\/p>\n

San Francisco-based Allbirds, who market themselves as ‘the world’s most comfortable shoe’s are a certified B corporation<\/a>, which means they ‘meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.’<\/p>\n

The brand has positioned itself as an ethical and sustainable eco-friendly shoe manufacturer, and prides itself on using renewable materials and its ambitions to offset carbon emissions from the footwear industry, which it claims<\/a> is responsible for producing 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Amazon's<\/div>\n

\"Amazon's<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Allbirds'<\/div>\n

\"Allbirds'<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Allbirds’ co-CEO Joey Zwillinger has said that Amazon’s 206 Collective brand running shoe is ‘strikingly similar’ and ‘algorithmically inspired’ by his Wool Runner model<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Zwillinger told CNN that Amazon ‘saw that a lot of people were searching for Allbirds,’ and claimed that their 206 Collective shoe were ‘almost algorithmically inspired’ in order to ‘capitalise on demand.’<\/p>\n

Zwillinger said that he was frustrated by Amazon’s approach to the issue, saying ‘we open source all the materials,’ <\/p>\n

‘If they wanted to use the materials and copy our sustainability, they had all the right to do so. We gave that away.’<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Jeff<\/div>\n

\"Jeff<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon, addresses a press conference on Amazon’s sustainability model in September 2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Allbirds’ flagship Wool Runner shoe, which was launched in 2016, uses sustainable merino wool from New Zealand and a sole made from sugarcane waste rather than more environmentally damaging forms of plastic or rubber.   <\/p>\n

By contrast, Amazon’s 206 Collective<\/a> wool blend sneakers, are half the price of Allbirds’ Wool Runners and are made from a mixture of wool, polyester, nylon and viscose. <\/p>\n

In the open letter Zwillinger stresses that his problem with Amazon lies mostly with its use of materials, saying they are happy for Amazon to be inspired by their shoe designs.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"San<\/div>\n

\"San<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

San Francisco based tech and science led footwear brand Allbirds opened their first UK store in July 2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Allbirds<\/div>\n

\"Allbirds<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Allbirds markets itself as an ethical and sustainable shoe manufacturer that uses renewable materials and offsets carbon emissions<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘We want you to use it,’ says Zwillinger. ‘If you replaced the oil-based products in your supply chain with this natural substitute (not just for one product, but all of them), we could jointly make a major dent in the fight against climate change.’<\/p>\n

In a press statement, an Amazon spokesperson responded to Allbirds’ claims by denying that their wool blend trainers were an imitation<\/p>\n

‘Offering products inspired by the trends to which customers are responding is a common practice across the retail industry,’ they said. <\/p>\n

‘206 Collective’s wool blend sneakers don’t infringe on Allbirds’ design. This aesthetic isn’t limited to Allbirds, and similar products are also offered by several other brands.’ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allbirds co-founder and co-CEO Joey Zwillinger has complained that Amazon are undermining sustainability efforts The founder of Allbirds, a sustainable and eco-friendly shoe brand, has blasted Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for releasing a running shoe that looks ‘strikingly similar’ to Allbirds’ flagship ‘Wool Runner‘ trainers. Speaking to CNN‘s Christiane Amanpour last week, Allbirds co-CEO Joey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138025,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10221280388112155_325455220908133":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-news"],"yoast_head":"\nEco-friendly shoe manufacturer Allbirds blasts Jeff Bezos over 'strikingly similar' Amazon shoe - Wardoon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wardoon.net\/so\/eco-friendly-shoe-manufacturer-allbirds-blasts-jeff-bezos-over-strikingly-similar-amazon-shoe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eco-friendly shoe manufacturer Allbirds blasts Jeff Bezos over 'strikingly similar' Amazon shoe - Wardoon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Allbirds co-founder and co-CEO Joey Zwillinger has complained that Amazon are undermining sustainability efforts The founder of Allbirds, a sustainable and eco-friendly shoe brand, has blasted Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for releasing a running shoe that looks ‘strikingly similar’ to Allbirds’ flagship ‘Wool Runner‘ trainers. 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