Allbirds Wear the Tech Bro ‘It’ Shoe. Then the Tech Bros Moved On.

Pre-pandemic, Allbirds were the dominant shoes among the clients of San Francisco dating coach Eddie Hernandez, including many tech professionals. Now, he said, they’re the fifth or sixth footwear choice of men looking for love. Silicon Valley personal brander and stylist Victoria Hitchcock, most of whose 100 clients are dot-com types, has observed a similar disappearing act. Although she says she’s never advised anyone to buy Allbirds, about 40 of her clients sported them in 2019, she recalled. Now? Only 10 do.

Tech bros ditching their Allbirds? It’s like tigers tossing aside their stripes. Few fashion items are as closely associated with the coding crowd as the muted kicks from this San Francisco startup. Since 2016 the sneakers, most classic in a MacBook shade of slate, have swaddled the feet of hackers, engineers and Google co-founder Larry Page in soft natural materials like merino wool. Their blank aesthetic, slipper-like comfort and eco-friendly message “checked all the boxes that win in San Francisco,” said Mr. Allred. A 2016 Time article calling them “the world’s most comfortable shoes” fueled the hype (the tag stuck). And in a sign of how feverishly swaggery VCs and brogrammers embraced them, the shoes were featured in the “tech bro starter pack”—a viral meme from 2019 lampooning the items such men are never without.

Yet a sizable number of tech bros seem to be slipping the tech-bro shoes off and lacing up alternatives from ascendant brands like On and Rothy’s. Why the shift? Some cite practical concerns (Allbirds are not particularly hardy), others the fading appeal of a techie “uniform.” But many share a conviction that sneakers are passé. “I feel like Allbirds will be part of the 2010s style,” said Tim Wagner, a 40-something founder of a San Francisco startup. “Like, ‘Oh remember those things that we wore?’”

Despite this, Allbirds’ revenues continue to grow, albeit at a slower rate: They totaled $213.6 million for the first nine months of 2022, a year-over-year uptick of 18.5%. That’s largely due to the still-young brand’s ability to reach a broader audience through national store openings, partnerships with third-party retailers, and a growing product assortment, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at the NPD Group. According to NPD’s US consumer tracking service, in the past 12 months Allbirds’ percentage of female shoppers, and customers with incomes under $100,000, has increased.

“When Allbirds launched in 2016, word spread rapidly… particularly in our hometown of San Francisco,” said an Allbirds spokesperson via email. “Since then [our] mission has attracted a global audience, with customers in more than 30 countries. Our fastest-growing markets today are London and New York.” The brand’s return customer, noted the spokesperson, has “spent more with us each year since 2016.”

Yet a 2022 GlobalData consumer panel found that Allbirds customers’ average annual spend has dropped by more than $31 since 2018. This has contributed to the brand’s recent slowdown in revenue growth, and mounting losses, said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData’s retail division. One reason for the spending drop? Mainstream shoppers’ purchasing intensity isn’t as great as that of the original tech audience, said Mr. Saunders. In general, techies tend to spend more as they have higher average salaries, he said, and are more inclined to stick to brands they like vs. shopping around.

Although some former ‘birders praise the sneakers’ comfort, others bemoan their downsides. A frequent complaint among Ms. Hitchcock’s clients are those models such as the flagship Wool Runners wear out quickly and don’t offer enough support if you’re on your feet for long periods. Another common quibble: that Wool Runners and Tree Runners flounder in wet weather. (The Mizzle models are water-repellent.)

Lots of tech folks moved on simply because the message the shoes telegraph has changed. From about 2016-2019, merino-clad feet were a way to announce yourself as a modish techie who cared about the environment, part of a class of workers seemingly taking over the world. Yet as Allbirds became ubiquitous, lacing them on made some guys feel like a trope, said Mr. Allred. An avalanche of snarky memes that said as much didn’t help. “[If] I have a number of shoes to choose from… I’m not going to reach for the pair that gives me potential to be made fun of,” said Mr. Allred. “Why become a meme if you don’t have to?” mr. Wagner began to balk after he found himself surrounded by below-the-ankle clones at Bay Area parties in 2019. “You’re like, ‘Oh, this is awkward. I feel like I’ve been sold to by the marketing machine.’”

A bigger question might be whether tech guys still want to look like textbook tech guys, said Simeon Siegel, managing director at BMO Capital Markets. With each WeWork crash and FTX crypto crisis, not to mention a widely reported culture of toxic masculinity, the industry’s glow dims further. J. Kevin Kelly, 41, a startup founder in Chapel Hill, NC, who once wore Allbirds, said he no longer hankers to dress like his brogrammer brethren: “It’s certainly less desirable to be so openly identified…as working in tech .”

Mrs. Hitchcock is noticing her clients gravitating towards designs with more sturdiness (and a steeper price tag) than their Allbirds. These successors come from brands like Atoms, a Brooklyn label with an ascetic aesthetic that’s been dubbed “the new Allbirds” by some. Is it? “It’s on its way,” said Mr. Allred, “but really [tech guys’ shoe choices are] all over the place.” What, no dominant, sub-ankle uniform? That probably suits techies just fine.

NEW ‘BIRDS

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