OUR HISTORY
In 2004, on his first trip to Indonesia, our founder Kyle Parsons flip flop broke. He wanted something truly unique to Bali and had a pair of authentic Balinese sandals made for himself with tyres as the soles. As Kyle started to do some research, he realised the ever-growing trash problem and wanted to make a change. He came up with one solution to the problem: Using sandals as the new vehicle for this used tire material. Indosole was born.
THE IDEA
The idea of turning tyres into soles came from the Indonesian people. Through ingenuity they, like many cultures around the world, managed to turn trash into something functional and new.
THE PROBLEM
Each year 1.5 billion tyres are being discarded worldwide.
These tyres never decompose and are a breeding ground for deadly diseases: dengue, malaria, and zika. 60% of Indonesia’s waste tyres are being collected by factories and burned, releasing toxic gasses into the air and oil into the ground.
At Indosole we have found a better use for these tyres and have prevented over 100,000 tyres from landfills and given them new life as soles for our footwear.
ENVIRONMENTAL INNOVATORS
We've dedicated the last 10 years to being the environmental keepers of the future. We merged artisan skill with corrective impact, developing a laborious shoemaking process that transforms tyres to soles by hand.
Through this analog technology and circular thinking we were able to save over 80K+ tyres from landfills but looking at the exponential rate of industrial world waste, we realized we had to up our game. We set out to prevent the environmental hiccup of the future. A breakthrough technology was needed that could address mass scale.
Indosole aspired to double growth while significantly reducing global negative impact.
OUR ORIGINAL PROCESS
Using artisanal methods, we developed our unique upcycled process. Each pair is handmade with the traditional methods of making footwear. In order to cater to our unique process of creating footwear, some of the machines were handmade.
As our machinery is hand operated we leave no carbon footprint throughout the production of Indosoles'. Carefully sewn and quality controlled to ensure each product lives up to our high quality standards.
OUR PROCESS
After years of deep R&D, investigating how to best advance the circular economy through footwear. Nature is a zero-waste, non-polluting system and Indosole benchmarked the same.
Mimicking nature, our lab scientists experimented with destroying the existing tire to rebuild the rubber from scratch. Through this process our lab researchers discovered our own Sole Engineered Tire Technology (SETT®) which pulverises the tire into a fine powder and resets it with natural and recycled rubber.
This malleable tyre gel is set to revolutionize the footwear industry by maximising the volume of recycled rubber that contributes to pollution elimination.
Each one of our products is designed like any other ‘fashion’ collection. There is first a concept or idea. Then a hand
sketch, a sample process, and then a wear-test period. We set out with the intention to create a product to be the most comfortable, durable, and easiest wearing pair we can imagine
Inspired by nature, each color is a representation of the essential elements in our every day lives.
