From Field to Footwear: Tim Brown’s Journey from Footballer to Founder

A former professional athlete turned entrepreneur, Tim reflects on how failure, curiosity, and purpose helped turn one simple idea — a shoe made of wool — into one of the world’s most recognizable sustainable brands.

The Tailspin:

Before he was reinventing footwear, Tim Brown was chasing a dream on the soccer fields of New Zealand.

“I grew up in New Zealand, land of lots of sheep,” he laughs. “That’s where I fell in love with two things — sport and design.”

After studying design in the U.S. on a soccer scholarship, Tim pursued a professional career that was anything but straightforward. He faced rejection after rejection — from the MLS to clubs in England — until a six-day contract in Australia changed everything.

“I signed a six day contract, ended up playing in a game playing quite well, and then ultimately earned my way to what would be my first professional contract.”

In 2010, Tim achieved a lifelong goal: representing New Zealand at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. His team was the only undefeated one in the tournament. But after that high, he realized something profound — it was time for a new chapter.

“It was an incredible experience,” he recalls. “But I came out of that realizing that my sporting experience was never going to get any better.” 

He then “retired” from the sport and returned to London where he attended school and started “to study all the subjects I'd avoided in business.” 

The Work:

While studying at the London School of Economics, Tim began tinkering with a simple but radical idea: could a shoe be made from natural materials instead of plastic?

“I just wanted to make something,” he says. “I hadn’t written a business plan. I’d never made shoes before.” Tim claims he was powered by his “naivety.”

That curiosity led to the first prototype of what would become Allbirds — shoes made from New Zealand merino wool. A skeptical professor pushed him to test the idea on Kickstarter, telling him bluntly it would probably fail. 

“He said, ‘I've been teaching this class for a long time. I've seen a lot of ideas. This is by far and away the worst one,’” Tim recalls his teacher, Carter, telling him. “Move on with your life because otherwise I fear you're going to be one of these guys that just toils on this for many years and makes himself unhappy.”

Instead, the project exploded with demand and set the stage for what would become a movement in sustainable design.

“I went home with $700 and my brother shot a video,” Tim recalls. “Put the six pairs of wool runners that I developed on Kickstarter and thus began the entrepreneurial journey called ‘Carter's Bluff,’ and started what I had no idea would be this whirlwind experience.”

But Tim soon realized that doing it alone wasn’t sustainable — in business or life. Enter Joey Zwillinger, an engineer with a vision for reshaping the global economy around sustainability.

“I had the product idea,” Tim says. “Joey gave the gift of purpose and vision.”

The two co-founded Allbirds in 2015, blending design simplicity with environmental responsibility. Their shared mission — to prove comfort, good design, and sustainability can coexist — fueled rapid growth. Within two years, The Wall Street Journal declared Allbirds “the world’s most comfortable shoe.”

But with success came challenges. After going public, Allbirds faced tough markets and internal change. Instead of panicking, Tim turned to perspective. 

“You've got to walk through these things and do it for reasons that extend beyond the ebbs and flows, and the wins and losses, that have come on any given day because you believe that what you're building is important and it matters,” he shares. “And that's what we've tried to do at Allbirds. The perspective of time allows you to look at those things with a little bit more distance and perspective.”

And so Tim decided after reflection it was time to reset. “We needed to reconnect with where we'd come from, but we'd lost our way a little bit and it was an opportunity to create the next platform of where we wanted to go.”

The Tailwind:

A decade later, Allbirds is still innovating — and so is Tim. Now as Chief Innovation Officer, he focuses on material science and purpose-driven design while helping guide the next generation of leadership.

He measures his career not just in milestones, but in “three-year chapters.” 

Every three years, Tim would pause to review the accomplishments and ask himself two questions: “Am I enjoying myself, and am I the right person to keep doing this?”

That same reflection extends to his personal life. With two young kids, Tim strives for what he calls integration — not balance — between work and home.

“Often it's framed in this idea of work and life, and how you make the two work. Balance is often the label given to it,” he explains. “And I think inherent in that framing is the idea that work is bad and life is good.”

For Tim, it isn’t that simple. 

“There's been incredible frustrations as a parent and equally at work. And so I think the first thing you can do is acknowledge it and then I think you have to have a really clear sense of what the trade-offs are and what you are prepared to accept.”

His advice to new parents and entrepreneurs alike is the same: “Understand that sometimes I'm going to be in the red and other times I'm going to be in the black. And you've just got to monitor that as best you can.” 

Tim credits his resilience to a few crucial voices — his father, his wife, and mentors who told him the truth, even when it was hard to hear.

“When I called my dad ready to quit football, he said, ‘We’re proud of you — but don’t call me for permission.’ That changed everything,” Tim recalls.

Today, Tim sees leadership not as heroism but as teamwork — a lesson that began on the soccer field and continues in the boardroom.

“We talk a lot about leadership and certainly in an entrepreneurial context, the cult of the singular leader,” he says. “We talk a lot less about teams and we miss the idea that almost always a team is led by multiple people and forces of which there's usually one public figure and many other highly influential components that are oftentimes hidden that we miss and they connect a group and point it forward.”

Asked what he hopes to remember 20 years from now, Tim doesn’t hesitate:

“Never forget where I've come from,” he says. “I know exactly where I've come from and we've had some successes and some failures and some ebbs and flows, but the people that grew up with me, I'd like to think that I haven't deviated from who I am and I think I look back and be really, really proud about that.”

To hear more about Tim Brown’s journey from professional athlete to sustainable innovator — and what it really takes to build a business with purpose — listen to the full episode of re:Purpose with Buddy Teaster.