Allbirds new Natural Run Apparel
Allbird’s new Natural Run Apparel showcases the performance potential of innovating from nature’s laboratory — activewear designed to move with you, without going against nature.
Sep 14, 2021
Allbird’s Natural Legging even proved to be up to 2X more breathable than leading synthetic pairs on the market.
Activewear is designed to help you work up a sweat. But it also works up a ton of carbon. The athletic industry’s MVP —polyester—runs on enough oil to power 47,000 cruise ships, and spews 700 million tons of carbon (70 million football fields) into the atmosphere on an annual basis.
It’s even become a permanent fixture on our ocean floors, with 14 million tons of microplastics that break down into smaller and smaller particles, but will never fully disappear.
Making up 55% of all clothing, polyester’s cheap production cost has made it a go-to for nearly everything we exercise in—from the everyday athlete, to those competing for gold medals. The result: in pursuit of our personal bests, activewear’s dependency on oil-based plastic fabrics has left the earth in much worse shape.
Our physical fitness shouldn’t hurt our planet’s health. The only way to win is to play on nature’s team.
After 2 years of development and over 70 iterations Allbirds are launching their Natural Run Apparel line.
An evolution of the brand’s belief in nature-powered performance, Allbirds Natural Run Apparel allows you to work hard while treading light.
It is their first performance apparel collection and was put to the test over thousands of hours and met industry benchmarks for breathability, sweat-wicking, quick-drying, and comfort stretch.
Allbird’s Natural Legging even proved to be up to 2X more breathable than leading synthetic pairs on the market, demonstrating that natural materials can go toe-to-toe with plastic – and win.
But the ultimate test came down to how the line measured up against the most important metric: carbon.
This is the industry’s first performance apparel line to be labelled entirely with its Carbon Footprint, ranging from 4.7 kg to 14.5 kg CO2e before being 100% offset to zero.
The tops carry a cool-factor you just have to feel to believe, thanks to Merino Wool’s natural thermoregulating properties. The slick, mesh structure is durable, breathable, and dries quickly as you move through mile after mile.
Merino Wool is once again the star of the show with the new running shorts also. An unconventional material choice for shorts, yet Allbirds believe it’s exactly the right move.
Its comfortable stretch and temperature regulation allow the loose, lightweight Natural Run Short to easily move with you through your warm-up, cool-down, and everything in between.
As with all Allbird’s products, Natural Run Apparel has been packed full of premium natural fibres, designed with carbon consciousness in mind.
Unlike most sportswear brands that put their innovation muscle into oil-based plastic or default to offthe-rack synthetic material blends, the kiwi brand invests heavily in R&D resources into developing low-emission natural alternatives while prioritizing recycled resources to fill in the gaps.
They’re not perfect, but they admit that, and have a stringent objective to use 75% natural or recycled materials in everything they make by 2025, including this collection.