Founded in New Zealand by way of California, Allbirds is known for creating shoes that deliver unrivalled comfort: you feel good in them and feel good about them. Acknowledging the damaging impact created by the fashion industry, which is responsible for dumping 2.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year (according to Allbirds, that’s equal to the pollution from 456,707,817 cars in the same time frame), the brand’s fundamental strategy is to make great footwear from natural materials, including wool, eucalyptus tree fibres and sugarcane.

This week Allbirds releases its highly anticipated net-zero carbon shoe, the M0.0nshot Zero, a minimal high-top made largely from merino wool. A world-first innovation, the shoe combines cutting-edge ingenuity with age-old agricultural practices to harness the power of carbon-negative materials, such as regenerative wool sourced exclusively from New Zealand’s Lake Hāwea Station.

Already poised to become a collectable item, the M0.0nshot was officially unveiled on 27 June 2023 during a keynote address at the Global Fashion Summit – the leading international forum for sustainability in fashion – in Copenhagen, Denmark. The shoe was later named one of Time Magazine’s best inventions for 2024.

Contrary to the fundamental principles of sustainable design, where the aim is often to reduce the amount of material used, the Allbirds design team was encouraged to use a greater share of regenerative wool. Since regenerative practices can sequester carbon from the atmosphere, the greater the share of wool used in this case, the lower the carbon footprint. The result is a minimal high-top featuring a multi-dimensional merino wool knit that wraps the entirety of the silhouette, including the midsole.

Allbirds claims its landmark net 0.0kg CO2e carbon footprint shoe (a standard trainer is about 14kg CO2e) has been achieved without relying on a single carbon offset.

Jamie McLellan, designer, Allbirds says: “M0.0NSHOT Zero is the ultimate pursuit of product purity, stripping away everything superfluous allow the wool to be the hero. We needed to find ways to use more regenerative wool to help us counter other more stubborn parts of the carbon equation. As a result, we used wool to wrap the entirety of the upper and the midsole, giving the shoe a modern andmonolithic look that feels fitting for footwear of the future.”

With a limited edition run of 500 pairs, the M0.0nshot Zero will be available to buy for the first time from 6 February at Allbirds’ Covent Garden flagship and its concession at Selfridges London. Retailing at £170, each pair is labelled with a unique serial number to signify its rare nature and this milestone achievement.

Visit allbirds.co.uk for more details and calculations.

Images: Allbirds