Oh, patents! Allbirds® (shoes)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Allbirds® are all about sustainability with a net zero Mo.onshot set for 2025. A Mo.onshot that will make Allbirds® the first ever net zero shoes of the industry. As Allbirds puts it: “one small footprint for a shoe, one giant leap for the shoe industry."

With uppers made of New Zealand merino wool, or TENCEL™ Lyocell tree fiber, shoelaces made from recycled plastic bottles, eyelets made from Bio TPU (bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane), SweetFoam® soles made from sugar cane, and midsoles made with castor oil, each pair of Allbirds® uses natural materials to replace the high-carbon footprint of petroleum-based synthetics. The Allbirds® natural materials are also sourced from nature, using multiple best practices in sustainability. 

Best practices in sustainability, such as certification from the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC), to ensure that the trees harvested meet the strictest standards to protect forests, the animal habitat, and the people who depend on them. Likewise, the company works with organizations such as ZQ that monitor farming, land management, and animal welfare, when harvesting sheep wool in New Zealand. The Allbirds® company is also B-certified®, which means that it is a Business for Good, a for-profit company that meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

Allbirds® are also designed to be “the most comfortable shoes in your closet” with optimized fit, cushioning, and breathability. Patented comfort with a stellar portfolio of testimonials, both from the press and individual customers.

For example, the women’s Tree Breezers®  (a knitted pump) has a patented elastic region all around the perimeter of an opening, designed to receive the user’s foot. This elastic region ensures comfort, support, and durability,  replacing laces or other means of securing the shoe on the user's foot. The US utility patent US11206899B2, titled Knit shoes with elastic region, recites the details of this invention. Assigned to Allbirds® Inc, the patent was awarded on December 28, 2021, to a group of eight inventors: Jamie McLellan, Thomas Jad Finck, Lisa Halbower-Fenton, James Romero, Timothy Brown, Dennice Quijano Barerra, Talia Rapier and April Gourdie.

Specifically, in light of the below-extracted patent Figures 2A, 2C, and 2D, the shoe 100, comprises a structural region 106 forming a cavity, an elastic region 104 at the border of the structural region 106, and a sole 108. In the unworn configuration depicted in Figure 2A, the elastic region 104 elevates both the front 222 and rear 224 sections of the tread surface 220 from the planar surface 228. Thus, the tensile force of the elastic region 104 pulls both the front 230 and rear 232 tips of the sole 108 inwards, causing them to curve towards the center of the shoe.

Conversely, in the worn configuration, depicted in Figure 2C with a wearer’s foot 110 inside the shoe, the intermediate 224, front 222 and rear 226 sections of the tread 220 become coplanar with the surface 228. In the worn configuration, depicted in Figure 2C, the elastic region 104 extends to the metatarsal bones, exerting a tensile force that supports the user's foot 110, while maintaining a wide opening. A tensile force, also exerted on the structural region 106 and the sole 108, different from that which is exerted in the unworn configuration. 

 

Figure 2D depicts the Detail 1-1 marked on Figure 1C. The Detail 1-1, shown in Figure 2D, illustrates the knitted ribs 236 and depressions 238, of the elastic region 104, on a border 234 with the structural region 106. Figure 2D also indexes the perimeter 116 of the elastic region 104, through which the wearer’s foot will enter the cavity of the shoe 100.

The patent further describes the features of the Tree Breezers® that improve performance, increase manufacturing efficiency, and provide environmental benefits, compared to traditional shoemaking. 

Below, the abstract of the invention.

A shoe may include an upper portion constructed from a continuous textile (e.g., a knit textile) that includes an elastic region and a structural region. The elastic region may be positioned about a perimeter of an opening into a cavity configured to receive a wearer's foot, and the elastic region may be configured to secure the shoe to a wearer's foot. The elastic region may have a first elasticity that is greater than a second elasticity of the structural region. In an unworn configuration, the elastic region may cause a tread surface of a sole of the shoe to have a continuous curvature. In a worn configuration, substantially all of an intermediate section of the tread surface may contact a surface on which the shoe is placed. The elastic region may improve the performance of the shoe, including the comfort and durability. [Abstract US11206899B2]

References

Allbirds® (website)

www.allbirds.com
B Corporation® Business for Good
https://usca.bcorporation.net/
Forest Stewardship Council®
https://fsc.org/en
Mo.onshot Recipe Book
https://tinyurl.com/3zwatxav
ZQ - The New Zealand Merino Company. Ltd.

https://www.discoverzq.com/