Tim Brown

Tim Brown is a New Zealand entrepreneur, former professional footballer, and co-founder of Allbirds, the footwear company that turned a humble natural material into a globally recognised consumer brand.

Before he was a founder, Brown was a footballer. He captained the All Whites and was part of the squad that qualified New Zealand for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, ending a 28-year absence from the tournament. While playing college soccer in the United States, he studied design at the University of Cincinnati — and it was there that a nagging frustration took hold. Most trainers, he felt, were over-logoed, over-coloured, synthetic, and disconnected from the natural materials he had grown up around in New Zealand.

That frustration led him to merino wool. Brown saw an opportunity to use one of New Zealand’s best-known natural resources in a category where it was almost entirely absent. After years of research and testing, he launched the idea on Kickstarter and proved there was real demand for a simpler, more sustainable shoe.

Brown later teamed up with Joey Zwillinger, an engineer and renewables expert, and the pair co-founded Allbirds in 2016. Built around comfort, simplicity, and lower-impact materials — merino wool, eucalyptus tree fibre, and a sugarcane-based foam — the company’s Wool Runner became a breakout product and helped establish Allbirds as one of the best-known sustainable footwear brands in the world. The company went public on the Nasdaq in 2021, with Brown serving as co-chief executive.

Brown’s journey from the football pitch to a global founder reflects a rare mix of curiosity, restraint, and brand instinct. His work with Allbirds carried New Zealand merino to a new global audience and gave Kiwi entrepreneurship one of its strongest consumer brand stories on the world stage.

Sources: Allbirds · NZ Herald · PFA