ddp design fair

At the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen, Allbirds unveiled the Moonshot sneaker, a wool sock-style sneaker with a bioplastic sole.

The minimalist, all-gray Moonshot sneaker features wool from a Regenerative Farm (which captures more carbon than it emits) in New Zealand for its upper. Allbirds announced that the Moonshot sneaker is the "world‘s first net-zero carbon shoe," meaning it produces zero carbon emissions over its lifecycle.

"Naturally derived, carbon-neutral products are an untapped opportunity and the future of fashion," said Tim Brown, co-founder of Allbirds. In 2021, Allbirds launched the Futurecraft Footprint Trainer in collaboration with Adidas, which set a record for the lowest carbon footprint ever at 2.94 kg CO2e. Since then, the team has focused on simplifying the structure of the trainer, which has an average carbon footprint of 13.6 kilograms, and reducing the number of individual parts from 65 to seven. The Moonshot sneaker also features no laces or eyelets, and the insole is attached to the knit upper.

 Unlike previous Futurecraft Footprint trainers, the Moonshot features a merino wool upper from a zero-carbon certified farm in New Zealand (Lake Hawea Station), which sequesters more carbon than it emits  through regenerative farming practices. Plastics still play an important role in performance. Recycled wool hasn‘t quite caught up to the performance of synthetic fibers yet, so the Moonshot‘s upper had to incorporate some recycled nylon and polyester for durability and stretch. For the midsole, they used a supercritical foaming process to increase the bioplastic content from 18% in 2021 to 70% in the Moonshot sneaker. The process involves injecting gas into the midsole to increase durability and lightweight, while reducing the need for synthetic additives that are more emissions-intensive.

 The front of the sneaker features a bioplastic smiley face badge from California company Mango Materials, which is made by capturing methane released from wastewater treatment facilities and then digested by bacteria into a biopolyester called PHA. The shoes themselves are vacuum-packed in bioplastic polyethylene to save space and weight during transportation, which Allbirds plans to do via electric trucks and container ships powered by biofuels.

In 2020, Allbirds became the first fashion brand to offer carbon labeling on all of its products and is committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its products to less than one kilogram by 2030 and reducing its overall carbon footprint to "near zero“. The Moonshot sneaker is scheduled to launch in spring 2024.