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You're comparing work boots to what are effectively wool slippers with rubber soles - of course there's a difference in quality because they're not even the same market segment.

I agree with you they're overpriced, but not for the reasons you stated.

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Maybe they should aim for a different market segment then. Common Projects, a plain but very well made luxury sneaker seems to be doing well. I'd imagine fighting for scraps against Amazon/Walmart isn't going to go well.

Their market is well off techies/tech adjacent people that don't care about fashion and just want to be comfy (Allbirds are the butt of jokes in any men's style community).

They can't price their shoes too high because their market would scoff at paying more than $~150 for shoes. This market also won't care about where the material is sourced from or who makes it.

Allbirds made a cheap product people can easily copy, so they did. Shrug.

My biggest problem with them is they wear out in less than a year. Extremely unreliable...

That said, if you love merino - check out Icebreaker...

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