Allbirds’ wool runners on the left, with Amazon’s 206 Collective on the right. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
Allbirds raced to a valuation of more than $1 billion on the popularity of its trendy wool shoes. Now the CEO and co-founder of the Silicon Valley startup is calling out Jeff Bezos for a “strikingly similar” product being sold on Amazon, and for lacking the sustainability practices preached by Allbirds.
In a post on Medium on Monday titled “Dear Mr. Bezos,” Joey Zwillinger said that while Allbirds is “flattered” by Amazon’s “strikingly similar” private label shoe, sold as part of the tech giant’s 206 Collective brand, he wishes Amazon was committed to environmentally friendly materials, as well.
Allbirds is “here to help,” he wrote. “As we’ve done with over 100 other brands who were interested in implementing our renewable materials into their products, including direct competitors, we want to give you the components that would make this shoe not just look like ours, but also match our approach to sustainability.”
Amazon sells its wool-blend sneaker for $45, compared to the $95 that Allbirds charges. Amazon has more than 100 private-label brands aimed at determining what’s popular and then creating similar products for deeply discounted prices....MORE
