The smoke signals of the tech industry’s collapse are everywhere: the massive layoffs, the shrinking office space, the hostile takeover of Twitter by “Chief Twit.”
So it’s not surprising that many tech workers might be looking for greener pastures, where there are still made-to-order smoothies and unlimited artisanal coffee—if those days are even possible again.
But shoes? We didn’t think it would go that far.
Yet according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal, tech bros are shunning their Allbirds—shoes proudly born and designed in San Francisco—lest the techie association with their native city rubs off on them.
It may be a rebellion against the sartorial homogeneity of the tech worker class, a phenomenon immortalized in the “Tech Bro Starter Pack” meme—an assortment that included, of course, Allbirds.
Or it may simply be that fashion has moved on.
This particular San Franciscan thinks they’re missing out. Not only were Allbirds named the world’s most comfortable shoe by Time, but they also continue to have a presence in our fair city.
No matter what their success might be today, we’d do right to champion our San Francisco-born heritage brands, household names ranging from Gap to Levi’s to Esprit.
With brands that often embody a casual aesthetic and a commitment to environmentalism, San Francisco has carved out its own laid-back niche in the fashion world. That’s an apparel past (and present) that not even the tech bros can unravel.