The natural-fiber shoe brand takes aim at ‘gritty’ trails, oil-based materials, and the ‘overly serious, aggressive’ approach taken by traditional shoes.
Allbirds today announced its very first trail running shoe, the Trail Runner SWT. And with it, the brand marks its entrée into a category dominated by brands known for performance and technological innovation.
And while the New Zealand-American brand believes its debut shoe will handle the demanding conditions that define the category, its primary focus seems to be more on the mentality and approach to trail running than simply the run itself.
“Soft, curved shapes (mimicking jelly beans) inject a sense of playfulness and irreverence in a category that tends to be overly serious, aggressive,” Allbirds’ marketing says of the SWT’s design.
And that’s not all. The shoe’s lugs follow an entirely different design approach than its competitors. Whereas many brands use sharper stepped lugs to “bite” into loose terrain — and strategically place them for maximum traction — Allbirds employed bulbous treads inspired by mountain bike tires built for “rolling through nature versus clawing through it.”
And the lug placement? According to Allbirds, that took cues from David Hockney pool paintings.
Allbirds Trail Runners SWT
In keeping with the brand, the SWT uses mostly natural materials. The “SWT” stands for “Sugar, Wool, Tree,” a nod to the sugar-based “SweetFoam” midsoles; ripstop upper made with wool, eucalyptus tree fiber, and recycled poly; and a natural rubber outsole.
