VIP Class Notes (George)

Read the Esquire article

https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/g19446302/allbirds-eucalyptus-shoe/

https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/news/a53540/allbirds-sustainable-sneakers-tim-brown-interview/

Go over the following interview questions:

• How were you introduced to our brand?
  • Through a friend I was working with at Michael Kors. He spoke to me about your brand, which I hadn’t heard of before. I did some research and found out more about you guys.
• What are some of the things you know about our brand?
  • Well I first came across you guys after listening to a podcast from Monocle Magazine interviewing new entrepreneurs.  I also read an article published by Esquire magazine, again interviewing Tim Brown.
  • From these, I gained some deep insights about this company
  • Its commitment to certain core values such as sustainability, style, and quality.
  • Mention that you found it interesting that Tim and Joey were didn’t actually like shoes that much at the beginning but still managed to build a successful venture
  • The company has a Co-CEO business model ,where Tim Brown and Joey Zwlinger share responsibilities in managing the company
  • Tim had a problem that traditionally, shoes are made of leather or synthetics which is very complicated and environmentally unfriendly.
  • To make a simple and attractive product is very challenging, so they tried many prototypes and they finally settled on one. Even though people advised them not to only sell one product.
• What are your thoughts on sustainability?
  • You have to talk about what sustainability means to you.
    • Talk about take-away and Eleme, wasteful packing etc. People will have to do more but the biggest impact has to come directly from businesses.  They must alter their practices and do their best to find more sustainable materials and manufacturing methods. Allbirds managed to build a successful business model based on this idea of product sustainability, and this is very interesting for the Chinese market. It risks revolutionizing ideas of sustainability. If something like Allbirds could be successful in China, it could show both consumers and businesses that sustainability is not just something that adds extra cost to them, but something they can enjoy, and look forward to, in both products and process.

Pronunciation

Podcast

Sustainability

Joey Zwilinger

Synthetics

Eucalyptus