Tim Brown

Tim Brown is the co-founder and co-CEO of Allbirds, a footwear brand that specialises in manufacturing eco-friendly wool shoes. Its first product, the Wool Runner was dubbed “the world’s most comfortable shoe” by TIME Magazine.

Tim started direct-to-consumer brand Allbirds alongside Joey Zwillinger in 2016. Allbirds sold more than a million pairs of shoes in its first two years of business, earning the recognition of “the fastest growing shoe company in the world.”

Tim is credited as the creative vision behind Allbirds, with an eye for all things design. Allbirds has raised U.S. $77.5 million in five funding rounds from investors including T. Rowe Price, and Tiger Global Management. Its most recent round was a $50 million Series C in October 2018.

The company is headquartered in San Francisco where Tim leads a team of 50 employees, as well as 40 employees at a Nashville warehouse and 350 contractors in a factory in South Korea. Since the Wool Runner, Allbirds has expanded its product range to include loungers and boat shoes, as well as runners made from eucalyptus tree fibres and flip-flops made from sugar cane. The brand has also released a children’s line, ‘Smallbirds’.

Allbirds has gained huge popularity among celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio (an investor), Cindy Crawford, Hilary Duff, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Mathew McConaughey and Ben Affleck.

A former professional athlete, Tim served as Vice Captain of the New Zealand All Whites for a number of years, including at the FIFA World Cup, before retiring from the soccer field in 2010. His experience as a World Cup soccer player for New Zealand led him to think about things on a grand scale, whether that be crafting shoes or running a business. He’s constantly driven by the desire to do things better. For him, it’s not about the specific product or sport, it’s about the meaning and intention behind it.

Watch Tim Brown accept his award here.