When the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade back in 2022, trendy Kiwi/US footwear brand Allbirds was quick to denounce the SCOTUS decision. Allbirds then announced they were covering the costs of any US-based staff who needed to travel to a woke state to get an abortion. At the time, we noted this on WokeUp NZ.
Well, as of April 2026, Allbirds will fly no more. Once worth $7b on the stock market, the company has been sold for “peanuts” and is winding down its business. The company’s share price plummeted roughly 99.5% from its 2021 peak, leading to a “sell-off for peanuts”. The buyer is the New York-based, privately-held American Exchange Group, founded by Syrian immigrant Alen Mamrout.
Allbirds was once a darling of Silicon Valley because its shoes were made of natural and recyclable materials. But analysts noted that Allbirds’ intense focus on high sustainability metrics and “zero-carbon” shoes may have been too narrowly focused on “vanity metrics”, failing to connect with mass consumers.
Mass consumers weren’t captured by the brand, but hipsters loved Allbirds because they were so woke. But hipsters are notoriously fickle and not especially loyal to brands – because they quickly jump onto the latest trend. The Allbirds trend lasted for a couple of years then plummeted.
So, in the end, Allbirds have dive bombed into extinction.