Allbirds faces Amazon copycat shoe

CAN Allbirds, the trendy, fastgrowing shoe company cofounded by exAll White Tim Brown, repel a copycat attack from Amazon?

US giant Amazon has just released a woollen shoe that strongly resembles Allbirds’ signature Wool Runner product but sells for less than half the price.

The copycat shoe is being marketed as Amazon’s inhouse ‘‘206 Collective’’ brand, for US$45 ($NZ71).

Allbirds cofounder and coCEO Joey Zwillinger was quick to hit back, telling Co.Design there was no way Amazon could produce a $US45 shoe if it followed Allbirds green philosophies around sourcing materials and manufacturing (and indeed while Amazon’s ‘‘Galen Wool Blend Sneakers’’ are 56% wool, they also contain polyester and nylon).

‘‘There is no way you can sell a shoe for that low while taking care of all of the environmental and animal welfare considerations and compliance we take into account,’’ Mr Zwillinger said.

‘‘Amazon is stating that it wants to be a green company. It should be taking steps to make their products more sustainable.’’

Will Allbirds follow up with legal action?

Certainly, it has before.

In 2017, it took infringement action against US company Steve Madden, which had released a $US89 Allbirds lookalike.

The case was settled out of court on undisclosed terms.

And just recently, Allbirds filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California against Austrian footwear company Giesswein Walkwaren for selling sneakers that it called ‘‘identical in all material respects’’ to the Wool Runner.

If Allbirds goes legal, would it have chance?

‘‘In the United States, ‘trade dress’ protects the appearance of a product,’’ Sebastien Aymeric, a senior associate with James & Wells, a law firm that specialises in intellectual property issues, said.

A trade dress can be registered with the US Patent and Trade Mark Office but would still protect a product if not registered, Mr Aymeric said. — The New Zealand Herald