I want to start my review of the Allbirds Canvas Cruisers by addressing the elephant in the room. I appreciate Allbirds have come under recent scrutiny, largely down to their rapid expansion which led to some shortfalls with customer service and supply problems. With influential people, such as Barrack Obama, wearing their product, things took off and perhaps more quickly than they were prepared for. And I get it, none of us like to spend good money on trainers (or anything else for that matter) and then face issues with service, returns or exchanges. I do however want to highlight the fact that the very reason that the company shot to fame so quickly, is down to their excellent eco credentials, stylish offerings (especially in the eco category) and high comfort levels.
There are plenty of other larger, non environmentally focussed companies, that we happily throw our money at without so much as a second thought. Some of these companies care so little for the world around them, that they actively avoid using or investing in anything other than plastic. These corporations seem to escape scrutiny, largely, and people just accept them and move on. We really should be looking to support business’s that are trying to make changes, and perhaps cut a little slack.
Right, rant over, now I want to explain my process for reviewing products a little more:
First, I will look into the material credentials for the item being reviewed. I will also look at the wider company, when and where possible, and share my insights with you.
Second, I will be looking at comfort, there isn’t much point buying an eco product if you just can’t wear it. I will be testing items using regular person use cases. I walk a lot, cycle both as a hobby and as trasnsport, run occasionally and go to the gym. Given this, I can fairly quickly figure out how comfortable something is and this will be reflected on the review.
Third, style, again it is a hard decision to buy clothing, or footwear, based entirely on it being good for the environment. At a minimum, they need to be stylish enough to not stand out (for the wrong reasons), but better still they should look good and be something you reach for instead of ignore.
Fourth, durability, I will add an update to the item and share my longer term usage data, when possible, to help you to make date driven decisions. This is particularly important to me when looking at socks and shoes. The website is based on my incredible ability to wear through socks in as little as 2-3 wears, trainers in a month and just about anything else in next to no time. This is partially due to my heavy handedness/foot, I am not known for being subtle, but also the very real poor quality being engineered into our modern products. There is an official saying for this, sh**ification, my main aim of the site is to find things that last, mostly this is because I am fed up of buying socks.
Materials
I think it is only fair to first talk about what makes Allbirds great, what they put into their shoes. This is where the brand really stands out, and the Canvas Cruiser trainers are no exception to this rule. Unlike most main stream trainers, which heavily rely on virgin plastics and non sustainable materials, Allbirds focus on natural and low impact materials. Allbirds lean heavily on materials such as Tencel, which is derived from trees, Eucalyptus in this case. Merino wool, which is made from the finest quality wool and the sugarcane based midsoles, otherwise known as SweetFoam.
The company also publish their carbon footprint, and that of their individual products, while this isn’t a perfect score it far outstrips that of their mainstream rivals, most of whom don’t share anything or even occasionally actively seek to mislead us.
If we look at the materials used for the Canvas Cruiser, you can guess a fair bit from the name, the upper is made from a hemp and cotton canvas (importantly organic cotton). Organic cotton uses less water in the growing process and perhaps more importantly emits the use of harmful pesticides. They still use the SweetFoam mid sole, which has been very comfortable so far, along with a castor bean oil based insole.
It doesn’t appear that this is a fully plastic free offering, which is omitted from the listing on their webpage, from what I have been able to find out they do use some recycled plastic. The laces and some of the shoe structure use recycled bottles, and the eyelets are made from a bio TPU plastic.
If you compare this to the materials more commonly used in the industry, then it should really be a no brainer. A lot of eco choices lean heavily on recycled materials, and while this is still admirable and probably essential, I do prefer the idea of utilising nature when and where possible.
Comfort
I have been using these trainers for just over a month now, and I can safely say they work well for me. We are all different, and I can’t say they be right for all of you, but from my experience they have worked really well. They are forgiving from the off, and don’t require any bedding in. And while you would expect this from trainers, I still think it is important to note.
I walk most days, typically 3-4 miles with the dog and then throughout the day to collect my children from various schools and nursery. I have also been wearing them to the gym, cycling on my city bike and use them as my day to day footwear. I drive a fair bit for my job (in an EV so it isn’t completely terrible) and wear them in the car as well. So, it is safe to say that I really do use these shoes and so far, I have no complaints in the comfort department.
Style
Another disclaimer, I am quite likely not the most stylish person you will come across, you could say I am quite utilitarian (some may say plain). I do however like my clothing, footwear and general appearance, not to stand out for the wrong reasons. Having fairly recently come out of a long stint of wearing (and wearing away far too quickly) solely (sorry) barefoot shoes, I am a bit of a hypocrite. I am not sure I ever found a truly stylish pair of barefoot shoes, and while this isn’t the reason I stopped wearing them, it is nice to now have some genuinely better choices.
I actually really like the Canvas Cruiser, and a lot of the other choices from Allbirds. They are simple and understated, and generally go with anything you have in your wardrobe (Unless you are me, age 13, in my grunge era). I wear these with shorts, chinos, jeans and they go well with them all. All in all, a great casual trainer.
They come in a range of colours, and Allbirds have worked collaboratively with
Durability
This is where I look a bit more in depth at the longevity and build quality of the item being reviewed. I typically measure my distance each month, using my Garmin watch, and can look back on how many times I used them cycling, in the gym and other tracked activities. I will sum these activities up together. Typically I will cycle once or twice a day in the week on my city bike, to collect my kids, do the shopping and run errands. I then go to the gym 3 times a week (family life dependant), where I also have been using these trainers.
I will use a simple 1 – 5 rating:
- 1 = As new
- 2 = Good, some signs of wear
- 3 = Average, evident signs of wear
- 4 = Poor, nearing limit
- 5 = Broken, unusable
| Month | Miles walked | Activities | Sole condition | Upper condition | General condition | Comfort | Notes |
| Month 1 May 2026 | 160 | 55 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Seem to be holding up well so far. The sole is beginning to wear but not too much. |
| Month 2 June 2026 | 174 | 53 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | The sole is wearing a bit now, particularly around the big toe section. Still very comfortable and lot’s of life left. |
| Month 3 July 2026 | |||||||
| Month 4 August 2026 | |||||||
| Month 5 September 2026 | |||||||
| Month 6 October 2026 |
Would I Recommend?
Put simply, yes, these have proven to be a great trainer and for the price they come with some very high standards. They have been consistently comfortable, even when being used outside of the normal use case. The longevity will remain to be seen, but at the time of writing, so far I am impressed.
For anyone looking for trainers that don’t cost the earth, both figuratively and literally, then these are a safe bet. I am looking forward to trying out some of their other offerings in the near future and putting them to the test.
If you are interested in buying these, then you can use the link below, I may earn a small commission if you go on to buy from Allbirds. Allbirds.co.uk
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