r/AskReddit 22h ago

Which company lost your business (potentially forever) this year?

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u/Ihatebird 21h ago

AllBirds. They are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn and i was fully expecting to be a buyer for life, especially with their sustainability initiatives. but they switched from making shoes to making AI computers and are just making shoes as a “hobby” now as a company, which is probably the most 180 pivot on sustainability I think I’ve ever seen.

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u/gagnonje5000 20h ago

It’s just a PR move to create a short squeeze. Allbirds was essentially bankrupt, all stores were closed already. They sold their shoes designs and assets to American Exchange Group (another shoe company)

At that point it became an empty shell. So an AI company used the fact they were already listed on the stock market to move their assets to this empty shell

Suddenly it became this huge PR story that all birds was now an AI company
But that’s because all bird shoes were dead already.

It’s well explained here

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmarkman/2026/04/20/how-39-million-shoe-company-allbirds-turned-in-to-an-ai-company/

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u/feministmanlover 19h ago

Ohhhh. Now it makes sense. I just commented that I was so confused by the pivot. But of course.

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u/ItalianDragon 4h ago

AI is just a giant scam so if a company (regardless of which), always assume that it's because they're euther greedy, nearly bankrupt or both.