Bellroy is a company that doesn’t require a description. The company crafts some of the most beautiful leather goods on the market. Although every time I see the owl, I think of Drake’s OVO, the brand stands at the corner of innovation and carry goods and accessories. This is a sneaker industry site however, and it’s important to lay the groundwork for those who may not have heard of the company:
Did you watch the video above? Good.
I’ve written about NFW on several occasions since I discovered the company garnered an investment from Allbirds. I was excited to see the product enter into the dialogue around better materials for sneakers. When you consider Nike introduced Flyleather, a recycled leather, and they have only rolled out limited release product since the announcement in 2017, it becomes apparent that simply creating product from better materials is a complex process and takes time.
That’s actually an excuse for Nike. Nike is using Flyleather as a marketing tool. Which moves me back to Allbirds and their investment into Natural Fiber Welding. I expected Allbirds to finally drop a shoe that was more than just a Roshe Run made of wool. I intentionally left Allbirds’ name out of the title of this post, because I’ve written several posts asking why hasn’t the brand done anything with Mirum®:
That product never arrived. I don’t want this post to be about Allbirds’ failure, which is showing up in the share price being 14.79 after a poor earnings beat, down from 28/share, but the sneaker side of me is so frustrated. It appears, like Nike, the investment into Natural Fiber Welding was simply marketing before the IPO. Enough of that, let’s jump into some images and the incredible cross promotion of Mirum by Bellroy.
In a sign that most brands aren’t aware of the power of content and the appropriate length for the digital age, this link has enough information available Bellroy and Natural Fiber Welding could have shared content for about 6-8 weeks driving continued engagement as the products are released by Bellroy. When you visit that page give yourself time. The content is overwhelming, but super-informative. The most important aspect lies in the imagery of products being considered. Many of the pictures of goods aren’t available yet, but Bellroy discusses the method of make, the comparison to leather, and then they provide an extensive interview with the founder of NFW.
I said I wasn’t going to do this, but imagine an Allbirds Tree Dasher with Mirum pulltabs at the heel and on the tongue? Think about something so simple as incorporating the material onto the shoe, to break up the monotony of one-color wool shoes. Bellroy willingly gives a playbook on how to work with Natural Fiber Welding. In my sneaker enthusiast sole, I want to see NFW’s Mirum collab with Bellroy and maybe Erem Boots or COMUNITYmade or a bigger brand like Saucony on a limited release Shadow 6000. Unfortunately, that can’t happen since Allbirds is the first sneaker company to invest and it seems they will never follow through on a product. A big shout out to Bellroy and NFW. I love the content, but next time break this down into a series. Interview, discussion on method of make, introduction to the first product and designer discussion, introduction to the slim sleeve in production, and a talk with developers at NFW. You only have three scrolls in the digital age before they click away, don’t let em click away. This is too important.
Leather alternatives and regenerative possibilities (bellroy.com)