Indosole

Indo­so­le has been a mem­ber of B‑corp sin­ce 2014. This means the brand is audi­ted tri­en­ni­al­ly by B cor­po­ra­ti­on. B‑corp helps com­pa­nies inte­gra­te sus­tainable and ethi­cal choices into their operations.

Indo­so­le is head­quar­te­red in the United Sta­tes. The shoes are pro­du­ced in Indo­ne­sia. A spe­cial fea­ture of Indo­so­le’s pro­duc­tion pro­cess is that no fuel (or ani­mal) powered machi­nes are used. This means that all shoes are made by hand in an artis­a­nal manner.

Unfort­u­na­te­ly, Indo­so­le pro­vi­des litt­le infor­ma­ti­on about the working con­di­ti­ons in which this pro­cess takes place. The lack of trans­pa­ren­cy makes it dif­fi­cult to deter­mi­ne how ethi­cal the pro­duc­tion is.

Final­ly, the brand is also a mem­ber of 1% for the pla­net. This means that they dona­te a por­ti­on of their sales to cha­ri­ties dedi­ca­ted to the planet.

Indo­so­le’s flip flops are made lar­ge­ly from recy­cled mate­ri­als. The brand deve­lo­ped a pro­cess to recy­cle car tires. The recy­cled rub­ber is then trans­for­med into the bot­tom sole of your flip flop. The high-qua­li­ty mate­ri­al ensu­res that your flip flop will not wear out quickly. 

Natu­ral rub­ber is also used in the flip flops. This lay­er makes the shoes more com­for­ta­ble to wear. The rub­ber is mined ethi­cal­ly in Indo­ne­sia. Indo­so­le gives their flip-flops fun colors with natu­ral dyes so the­re is no need to use harmful chemicals. 

The top lay­er of the foot­bed is made of EVA rub­ber. This is a syn­the­tic rub­ber that main­ta­ins an ergo­no­mic shape. This ensu­res that the slip­pers fit per­fect­ly. This mate­ri­al is also colo­red with natu­ral dyes. 

The straps of the flip flop are made of nylon. This is a syn­the­tic mate­ri­al used main­ly for its strength. Indo­so­le says it has deve­lo­ped a way to color this mate­ri­al with natu­ral dyes so that no che­mi­cals and less water are used. Due to lack of infor­ma­ti­on, COSH! can­not veri­fy how sus­tainable this mate­ri­al actual­ly is.

Final­ly, in their sum­mer coll­ec­tion of 2022, Indo­so­le has deve­lo­ped a rub­ber sole made from old shoe soles. By recy­cling the rub­ber sole of snea­k­ers into new mate­ri­als, the brand can thus mar­ket a more cir­cu­lar collection.

Indo­so­le wants to offer a solu­ti­on to the was­te pro­blem cau­sed by car tires with their flip-flops. In Indo­ne­sia and Sin­ga­po­re, among other places, the­re are huge piles of was­te tires. This cau­ses fires in which toxic gas­ses are released. Also, such dumps are often a bree­ding ground for mos­qui­toes, spre­a­ding dise­a­ses such as the den­gue virus. Indo­so­le is taking this was­te cir­cu­lar­ly by recy­cling it into shoe soles.

In the 2022 sum­mer coll­ec­tion, the brand is going one step fur­ther. To work cir­cu­lar­ly, Indo­so­le is making shoe soles out of old snea­k­er soles. Under the name ​“Lost Soles,” the brand is laun­ching a cir­cu­lar coll­ec­tion.

To be tru­ly cir­cu­lar, howe­ver, it is important that the flip-flops them­sel­ves are recy­clable after use. It is not clear if this is the case with Indo­so­le. Becau­se the brand mixes dif­fe­rent mate­ri­als, such as syn­the­tic rub­ber and natu­ral rub­ber, it does not look like the flip-flops are easi­ly recyclable.

All mate­ri­als used in Indo­so­le slip­pers are sourced from Indo­ne­sia. The pro­duc­tion of the shoes also takes place in Indo­ne­sia. By pro­du­cing local­ly, the brand aims to redu­ce its sup­p­ly chain. Howe­ver, the pro­ducts still have to tra­vel a long distance to be sold in Europe.

Indo­so­le does not use mate­ri­als of ani­mal ori­gin in their pro­ducts. So the brand is com­ple­te­ly vegan and ani­mal-fri­end­ly! In doing so, they gua­ran­tee that no ani­mals are used in pro­duc­tion, for exam­p­le for powe­ring machines.

Indo­so­le flip-flops can be reco­gni­zed by their typi­cal­ly colorful designs with black soles. In the ​‘Lost Sole’ coll­ec­tion, you can choo­se bet­ween a beige, oran­ge or red sole. With mold­ed foot­beds, the flip-flops are ergo­no­mic, as they fit any foot better. 

Indo­so­le gives high prio­ri­ty to the dura­bi­li­ty of the flip-flops. Every mate­ri­al is tes­ted for qua­li­ty and strength. Thus, the brand ensu­res that you can enjoy your purcha­se lon­ger. Moreo­ver, the brand also offers a one-year war­ran­ty on all products.

Indo­so­le still has some way to go in terms of trans­pa­ren­cy. The brand shares litt­le infor­ma­ti­on about their pro­duc­tion pro­ces­ses and loca­ti­ons. As a result, COSH! can­not assess whe­ther pro­duc­tion takes place in fair and safe working con­di­ti­ons.