The first time I ever heard of Allbirds is from a New York Times article titled “If you want to fit into Silicon Valley, wear these wool shoes”. Being a fashion design student at Parsons then, I was more interested in couture gowns than minimalist sneakers, so I didn’t really give them much thought. But gradually as I started learning more about the company’s mission and I saw more of their shoes, I started to warm up to the elegance of their style and the company’s ethos. Celebrities who have worn Allbirds include Barack Obama, Jessica Alba, Mila Kunis, and Jennifer Garner. Leonardo Di Carprio has even invested in the brand. Can you tell by now I am a late adopter?
I feel like a lot of people who are considering getting a pair of Allbirds are undecided between their two classic styles – the Wool Runners or the Tree Runners. I get it – I had both pairs of shoes forever in my shopping cart. I don’t like buying much stuff at all, but I finally got my hands on a pair of the wool runners towards the end of last year as a gift, and then shortly after a pair of tree runners.
They are different, and from speaking to friends, different people prefer one or the other. In this Allbirds Tree Runners vs Wool Runners review, I am going to compare the two products for you so you could figure out which might be better for you. I will look at the following aspects: the look, the material, temperature regulation, smell (Allbirds claim their wool insoles are odour-reducing!), whether you can actually wear them without socks and how you can clean them. Hope this helps!
Company overview
Around 2012, Tim Brown, a New Zealand native who played for the national football team, started thinking about shoes. His team was often sponsored by big sports brands, and he started noticing how overly logo-ed and loud these sneakers by major brands are. Plus, they’re all made of plastic.
Being from New Zealand, he has always known about the magical properties of merino wool as a fabric. Fun fact: for every 1 human there are 6 sheep in the country. Wool is known to be breathable, temperature regulating, moisture wicking and unlike plastic, biodegradable. He thought to himself: why don’t people make shoes out of them? (Not a question I would think of — but I guess that’s why I’m not the one owning a billion-dollar shoe company.) And so, he started tinkering with making sneakers out of wool.
In March 2014, with prototypes in hand, Tim launched a Kickstarter campaign. At the time the shoes were actually under another brand name “Three Over Seven”. The campaign described Allbirds sneakers as “a world’s first: woollen running shoes specifically designed for sock-less wear.” The main selling point was their comfort, the fact that they were machine washable and that you don’t need to put on socks wearing them. The point of the campaign really is for Tim to this test out whether there is a market need for the product. As a designer, sometimes you’ve been designing a product for ages – you are obsessed with it, but who knows if anyone else is?
He was looking to raise $30,000 but the campaign shut down within four days after raising nearly $120,000 and selling 970 pairs of shoes — he only had just enough material to produce those shoes.
After experimenting around with the product for a bit more, he met Joey Zwillinger through their wives (a fun fact I learned while listening to the Allbirds interview on podcast How I Built This). Joey is an engineer and renewables expert, who joined the company and brought in expertise from the supply chain end. Together they further developed the shoes – and that’s how Allbirds eventually came to become known for their comfortable minimalistic shoes made of wool.
4 years later, they launched the Tree Runners, a similar style of shoes, but made of eucalyptus tree fibre.
The Look
I love how the style, whether in wool or tree fibre, is very minimal, and the shoe brand is really just recognisable by this iconic simple style from afar. It’s like the Eames chair, you don’t need to see the designer’s name spelt out to know that it is, you know, the Eames chair. If you recognise someone wearing Allbirds, it’s not because you saw the logo, it’s because you know the style, and you kind of feel like you’re in this secret comfortable shoe club, you feel me? From the profile you could see that the shoe has a low toe box, and personally I really like this because it actually visually elongates your legs. So that is a plus for me.
The wool version has a felt, matte fabric look while the tree version has a more techy fabric look. So in a way you could say that the tree version looks a bit more sporty and casual, whereas the wool version looks a bit smarter, like you didn’t come from a gym. For example, if I pair my wool runners with a dress, I feel like it doesn’t look overly sporty and casual. I also think depends a lot on the colours you pick. Muted and monotonous colours would look less sporty the colourful or colour blocked ones. In any case, it’s quite a chic look to pair formal or smart looking clothes with sneakers these days anyway!
The Material
Obviously the difference between the two pairs of shoes is that one is made of wool and one is made out of tree fibre – and that really makes all the difference in other properties.
The Wool Runners are made out of merino wool, while the Tree Runners are made out of eucalytics tree fibre. Some of you might have heard of the trade name – Tencel.
But these two pairs of shoes have some materials in common as well. The midsole, which is the part underneath the main shoe body, is made of sugar cane. The insole (which you could take out) is made of castor bean oil, and there is also a layer of merino wool on top of the caster bean oil layer for texture and odour reduction. For most other brands the midsoles and insoles are usually made of petroleum-based plastic. Plus, Their laces are made from 100% post-consumer recycled polyester.
I didn’t learn about Allbirds at the beginning because of their sustainable production and material. I knew about them because they are known for being comfortable and minimalistic, so when I found out how much effort is being put into reducing the impact they have on the environment, I was seriously impressed.
Temperature Regulation
Those are the on-paper facts about the material, here I’m going to talk about the biggest difference, in my opinion, that these shoes provide in terms of experience – temperature regulation
The fact is, no matter how good wool is at temperature regulation, it’s still wool, it’s still the material we wear on a cold winter day, so the wool shoes are definitely warmer than the tree shoes. I do feel like it depends also on, let’s be honest, what kind of feet you have. I have a friend who has the wool ones and swears by them through winter and summer. I personally am the type that loves wearing sandals once there is a hint of spring, so I prefer the Tree Runners because there is definitely more air ventilation going on in there.
In fact, at the launch of the Tree Runners line, founder Tim Brown gave an interview saying that “When it gets really hot. The [Wool Runners] is not as good. So we tried to find a new material that worked when the weather was warm.”
For me, when I wear the Wool Runners, I feel like after a few hours out, it gets a bit hot for my feet. But when I wear the tree runners, I forget that they are on my feet!
So to choose the right shoe for you, it really depends on your own personal feet (do they get hot or sweaty easily – gross I know, but a necessarily discussion point), the climate of the place you’re at, and the activity you’ll be doing while in them. I know an artist friend who loves wearing his wool loungers
around his studio, which is more a slip-on shoe style in the same material as the wool runners.
Comfort
Some people might wonder if you get the tree runners over the wool runners for the cooler quality, will comfort be sacrificed? To that I will say, no, not really. To me, the comfort level of both shoes are the same in terms of texture. Of course, temperature regulation is a big part of comfort too, but for this part I will focus on comfort provided by texture.
Both pairs shoes have the same insole made out of caster bean oil foam and merino wool, and a midsole made out of a sugarcane material called SweatFoam, which combined makes for an experience that feels like you are walking on the clouds. I ran around town for the whole day wearing my tree runners and I didn’t get aching feet, because the soles are just that shock resistant and comfortable.
You could say that the wool ones are a bit more cozy, like putting on a knit sweater, you do kind of feel like you are walking on thick socks when you walk with the wool runner on, but I don’t think that makes a big difference in terms of comfort between the two shoes.
Can you really wear them without socks?
Yes. 100% yes! It’s up to personal preference ultimately, Allbirds also sells wool socks on their website. But the reasons why you could choose not to wear socks when putting on Allbirds is because of the merino wool layers that surround your feet when you have your shoes on for both the Tree and Wool Runners. Merino wool is naturally odour resistant due to wool’s natural fibre properties, so technically your shoes won’t get smelly – for a good while at least! (I’m sure it has its limits too — going for the hypothetical I don’t think it’ll be invincible if a skunk farts on it.)
I’ve kind of tested this, unscientifically. I’ve smelt my Allbirds shoes every so often. Honestly, it’s true, they don’t really smell. So either I have angelic feet or Allbirds are legit about their shoes being odour reducing.
UPDATE: After about 3 months of wearing my Tree Runners almost at least every other day of the week, the insoles do smell a bit when you put your nose right next to it. But a quick handwash and air dry is enough to make them smell like daisies by the next day.
Cleaning
Even though merino wool has odour reducing properties, eventually you’ll have to clean your shoes, whether it’s because they have finally buckled to your smelly feet, or you got some stains on them, which is not very difficult for me, at all.
All you need to do is remove the insoles of your shoes, take out the laces, brush off any big pieces of dirt, chuck your shoes in your wash (preferably in a laundry bag but I can’t find one), put some gentle detergent in your washing machine, set it to wool or delicate cycle, cold wash, and start the cycle.
If you have a stain or two on your shoes, I would suggest spot-cleaning them first. What has worked for me (for the Tree Runners, haven’t tried this on the Wool Runners) is to grab an old tooth brush, put some white toothpaste on it (coloured toothpaste might stain), wet your shoes, and then alternate between lightly brushing the stain spot and wetting your shoes until the stain is gone. I found this way is much more effective for getting off stains than chucking your pair directly into the washing machine. This is actually the same for most garments and fabrics!
One very important trick that no one seems to have mentioned is to put something inside your shoes when they dry. I see so many people mentioning that their toe boxes collapse after a wash and I was like, duh, wool moulds when wet! Literally if you put a T-rex figurine in the toe box of your Allbirds, it’s going to look like the shape of a T-rex after it dries. I guess I learned this when I was making hats for my brand before. What I’m trying to say is, put something in your Allbirds so that their shape hold when they dry. The ideal thing to put in there would be shoe lasts but I doubt many people have those at home, myself included. I simply rolled up and stuffed a few reusable grocery bags in them. Make sure you don’t overstuff them either! A good way to judge whether you’ve stuffed them right is that your shoes should look exactly like their original shape after you’ve done stuffing.
Also I think for Wool Runners, you should consider getting a wool specific shampoo because wool is technically hair. I like the one from Laundress — you could use this for your wool and cashmere sweaters too.
Anyway, for the insoles, you could just give them a quick hand wash with some gentle detergent or the same wool and cashmere shampoo.
Conclusion
Basically all in all, I think both the Wool Runners and Tree Runners are just as comfortable, and which shoes you get should really depend on 1) if your feet get hot or sweaty in shoes easily and 2) the climate you’re in – I would draw the line at around 68’F or 20’C. Personally I like the Tree Runners more because the coolness factor does influence comfort, and my feet have been super happy in my Tree Runners through the last few months in the spring, early summer days. I am also personally more in hotter climates than cold, so that has influenced my preference as well.
So I hope this Allbirds review has been helpful! Let me know if you have any further questions. I am a big fan of this company, their design, their execution and their mission. To learn more about them check out the Allbirds website!
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