I Finally Caved and Bought Allbirds' 'World's Most Comfortable Shoes'

It doesn’t matter how many five-star reviews a product has or what its sell-out rate is: I'll only ever spend my Mint-allotted “me budget” on something that's come recommended from people I actually know. That can be a friend or a colleague—never a stranger on the Internet. Yet even I haven't been able to completely shut out everyone's obsession with Allbirds' signature wool sneakers, which are allegedly “the world’s most comfortable shoes.”

The brand is reported to be one of the fastest-growing footwear companies globally. It has collaborated with the likes of Nordstrom, Outdoor Voices, and even Shake Shack. It sold a million shoes in two years. Not bad for an idea that debuted on Kickstarter.

But that's not why I finally caved and bought a pair of wool sneakers. It's because my boyfriend won't shut up about them.

You see, he's the proud owner of three pairs of Allbirds. He works in tech, and I work at a magazine—by nature, we take very different approaches to dressing. And in the context of our relationship, I like to think of myself as the authority on all things sartorial. But over the past several months, he’s used every work-related conversation to tell me about his growing Allbirds collection and how I needed to buy my own and subsequently write about them. A sample of his commentary: "They’re ungodly comfortable, but they look cool! Everyone in my office has them! Halie, these are about to be the next big thing! How am I ahead of you on this?" (I’ll admit that one got under my skin.)

I held out on his hearty endorsement for two reasons: I really didn’t believe they were as comfortable as he said—and he said so on a daily basis—and I hated the idea of rolling up to Sunday brunch (or anywhere) with my S.O. in matching sneakers. I ran out of excuses to ignore his glowing reviews when, true to his word, I started to notice Allbirds everywhere, from Instagram to brunch with friends.