Eight Tonnes Of Flip-Flops, Reconsidered

The ocean is, among other things, full of discarded flip-flops. Rather a lot of people have noticed this. Three of them decided to go and get some, which is the part most of us skip.

What they come back with is cleaned, shredded and pressed into the sole of a sandal. Around 300g a pair, eight tonnes and counting, and because rubbish arrives as whatever it happens to be, no two soles turn out the same. Yours will be slightly wrong in a way nobody else's is, which we would call a flaw if it were not so obviously the point.

The rest of it, since you asked

Cork footbed, made from ground cork waste and old wine stoppers, with a layer of natural latex on top doing the actual comfort. Uppers in vegan leather, or palm fibre if you have the Coco. Outsole from the offcuts the shoe industry produces anyway and generally throws away. Minimal glue, and the water-based sort. Nuoceans say the whole lot is recyclable when you are finally done with it, which would be tidy.

Vegan, and not just because they said so

V-Label certified, which involves somebody else checking. No leather, no animal glues. Assembled in Spain.

And they will not put them in the sale

Nuoceans decline to do big discounts, on the grounds that a brand discounting heavily has usually just made too many. Stating this publicly, in footwear, takes a certain nerve. We rather admire it.

One practical matter

Size up. They say so themselves, particularly if your feet are on the wider side, and it is the sort of advice worth taking from the people who made the thing.

Find them here

Have a browse through Women's Footwear, Men's Footwear, the upcycled edit, our Sustainable Brands, or the rest of our European brands.