Allbirds

The Allbirds store at 3135 M Street NW opened on February 27, 2020, in a 1,902-square-foot space that had previously been occupied by Georgetown Electric Company. The timing placed it on M Street just before the city shut down for the pandemic, which made the Georgetown location’s early months an unusual introduction to retail. The store is the brand’s first in Washington and occupies the M Street corridor in a way that reflects the direct-to-consumer model Allbirds built before it moved into physical retail: the floor is organized more like a showroom than a conventional shoe store, with chairs for trying on and a service area in the back.

Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger founded Allbirds in 2016 in San Francisco. Brown, a professional soccer player from New Zealand, had spent years frustrated with the lack of clean, simple athletic footwear that did not carry aggressive branding. He partnered with Zwillinger, a biotech engineer, to develop a shoe made from New Zealand merino wool, a natural fiber with insulating and moisture-wicking properties that conventional synthetic athletic shoes do not replicate. The initial product launched on Kickstarter and raised $119,000 in five days, which gave the founders evidence that the market existed and the capital to begin production.

The wool runner became the brand’s defining product. Made from a single material with a simple silhouette, it was covered as a shoe that solved the problem of overthought athletic footwear: functional, comfortable, and free of the logo density that had come to define the category. Time magazine named it one of the greatest inventions of 2016. The brand expanded the material range to include Tree, a eucalyptus-based fiber, and a line made from recycled plastic bottles. Allbirds went public in 2021 at a valuation above one billion dollars, one of the more visible direct-to-consumer IPOs of that period.

The Georgetown store carries the current running, walking, and casual shoe range in the full size and color selection. The interior design emphasizes the material story: samples of the wool and eucalyptus fibers are available to touch, and the staff are trained to explain the sourcing and manufacturing process. For a shoe brand, this kind of material transparency is the differentiator, and the Georgetown location makes it legible to anyone who walks in.

Hours run Monday through Saturday from 10am to 8pm and Sunday from 11am to 7pm. The M Street location is a short walk from the C and O Canal towpath and sits on the main Georgetown commercial strip, accessible from the Georgetown Circulator. Online ordering through allbirds.com is available for those who know their size, though the store’s try-on experience is the best argument for visiting in person. Returns and exchanges are straightforward.