According to Inc, Allbirds co-founder Joey Zwillinger, who stepped down as CEO in March 2024, is launching a new direct-to-consumer brand called Biologica, a women’s health startup selling hormonal supplements. This comes as his former company’s sales continue to sink, with Allbirds reporting a 23% drop in Q3 2025 net revenue to $33 million, down from $43 million the year prior. Zwillinger argues the old DTC playbook that quickly scaled Allbirds past $100 million is now broken, and success today requires a product that locks in frequent, recurring sales. His new venture offers subscription-based, dissolvable powders tailored to three life stages, with a goal to expand into retail after 18 to 24 months.
The Recurring Revenue Reckoning
Here’s the thing: Zwillinger is basically admitting that Allbirds’ core product was a victim of its own quality. You buy a great pair of comfy wool sneakers, and… you’re set for years. That’s terrible for a business built on hyper-growth and constant customer acquisition. The “increased cost of advertising” and Apple’s privacy changes he mentions? Those just exposed the fundamental flaw. You can’t profitably chase new customers forever for a product with a long replacement cycle. So his entire thesis has flipped. Now, it’s all about creating a consumable—a supplement you take daily—that builds a revenue subscription, not just a customer relationship.
From Sneakers to Supplements
So he’s pivoting to women’s hormonal health with Biologica. On paper, it checks all the boxes for the modern DTC “success” playbook: a consumable product, subscription model, and targeting a dedicated community (in this case, women across specific life stages). He’s explicitly trying to copy brands like Bloom Nutrition. But let’s be skeptical for a second. The wellness supplement space is absurdly crowded. And moving from sustainable footwear to biochemistry is a massive leap in terms of consumer trust and regulatory nuance. Is brand trust from comfy shoes transferable to something you ingest for hormone balance? I’m not so sure.
The Retail Endgame Stays the Same
And this is the real tell. Even with this new, “perfect” recurring revenue DTC model, the goal is still to get into physical retail within two years. That says everything. DTC is now just a launchpad—a way to prove product-market fit and build initial data before handing the volume game over to wholesale partners. It’s a far cry from the old dogma of “owning the customer relationship” forever and cutting out the middleman. The playbook now is: use DTC for initial buzz and subscription loyalty, then let Target or Ulta handle the massive distribution. It’s a more humble, and probably more realistic, strategy.
A Late Lesson Learned
The big question is whether this insight comes too late for Zwillinger’s legacy. Allbirds is now a cautionary tale about what happens when a viral, single-product DTC sensation doesn’t evolve into a broader lifestyle brand or find that recurring purchase engine. The company’s financial results show a deep, ongoing struggle. So Biologica feels like a direct response to those painful lessons. But building a brand in the noisy wellness arena is a brutal fight. It seems like he’s diagnosed the problem correctly, but the solution is a whole new battle in a different trench.
