In this latest edition of our monthly FashMash Pioneers series, Tim Brown, co-founder and co-CEO of Allbirds, discusses reducing fashion’s carbon footprint.
Halving carbon emissions by 2030 and getting to net-zero by 2050 is top of the priority list for fashion brands to help avert the climate crisis. Tim Brown, in his role for Allbirds, is a visionary who has been leading the way in this long before it was on the boardroom agenda.
Join us to hear about his product-first mentality through to his advice for entrepreneurs (passion versus purpose, team dynamics and, the importance of feedback). You can watch the full video back via YouTube above, and read on for some of the highlights below...
CONSUMERISM
“At the end of the day, there will continue to be billions of pairs of shoes made. And so the idea of zero consumption is a little bit of a red herring. If you don't do it, someone else will. Let's be really clear: we all need to reflect deeply on our own carbon footprints and on our own consumed consumption. But it's naive to think that all of a sudden this problem is solved by people stopping buying things. The answer? We have to make the things that we buy as close to zero impact as possible, if not, over time, negative impact. By definition, this implies that the more that we buy something, the better it is for the environment.”
DECARBONISATION
“If we can put a man on the moon, we can make a T-shirt that has low or negative carbon. We just never thought about and committed to doing it wholeheartedly. I've seen in five years the shift in broader industries... I remain an optimist and I won't be talked out of that. I continue to think that things are accelerating faster than I would have even given credit for when we started this business."
FASHION'S ROLE
“What's so exciting about the role of the fashion industry is we can make sense of [the climate crisis]. We can move this thing forward in really entertaining and energising ways that all of a sudden win over the broader populace and make a complicated idea simple and understandable and quite frankly, better for everyone.”
FashMash Pioneers is sponsored by Klaviyo.