Allbirds Abandons Sustainability Mission to Pivot to AI, Sparking Industry Backlash

When Liza Moiseeva first heard that Allbirds was pivoting to AI, she thought it was satire. “It belongs in an Onion article,” says Moiseeva, chief marketing officer at Commons, an app that helps people shop more sustainably by rating brands. Moiseeva has worked in sustainability for about 15 years and has been an Allbirds customer for more than a decade. Her family owns 10 pairs of the sneaker that once dominated Silicon Valley streets—and that had been a leader in sustainable fashion.

Now, Allbirds is stepping away from its footwear business, pivoting instead to AI compute infrastructure and rebranding as “NewBird AI.” The Allbirds brand and footwear assets are being sold to American Exchange Group. As part of that pivot, the original Allbirds company is also abandoning its previous focus on environmentalism, which it claims is incompatible with a focus on AI.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, the company wrote that its stockholders are being asked to approve a charter amendment “to remove references to the Company being operated for the environmental conservation public benefit.” The company intends to continue trading on the Nasdaq.

Fast Company reached out to Allbirds for comment.

Sustainable Fashion Takes a Backseat

To customers like Moiseeva, the pivot feels like a sharp turn away from the company’s beginnings. “It was a poster child for sustainable brands,” she says. Its environmental mission is what drew her to become a customer. “They’re also super practical and comfortable,” she adds.

Though she doesn’t agree with the pivot, Moiseeva does see it as part of a broader move away from environmentalism—particularly under the Trump administration, which has dismantled federal climate policies and seemingly made the larger conversation about climate action (especially from businesses) a taboo.

“In the socio-political environment right now, the word ‘sustainability’ is kind of becoming a bad word,” Moiseeva says. “At the end of it, we still need a planet to live on. If we all make these short-sighted decisions, we’re just gonna burn the world a little quicker.”

Industry Trend: Sustainability-Focused Brands Falter

Allbirds isn’t the first sustainability-focused company to peter out. After being valued at $4 billion just a few years ago, the company sold its assets for just $39 million last month.

• Parade, the underwear brand focused on recycled, eco-friendly materials, shut down in October 2025.
• Nisolo, a shoe brand that touted sustainability efforts, went into foreclosure in January 2025.
• Paravel, which used recycled materials (including water bottles) to make luggage, filed for bankruptcy in May 2025.

All were also certified B Corps. And that’s just retail; a variety of clean tech startups have also struggled lately. With each one of these, it means one less sustainably minded choice for consumers.

In the Commons app, Allbirds was once a top-rated sustainable brand. Now, the app notes that “this brand is undergoing significant transformation, and we are temporarily suspending its rating while we learn more.”