Los Angeles streetwear brand Rose in Good Faith has teamed up with sex toy manufacturer Doc Johnson to create shoes from recycled adult toys.
The shoes, called Plastic Soul, are made from a combination of plastic sourced from unused or damaged adult toys and non-bleached Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) foam, while its insole is made from recycled cork with a cotton liner.
Only 16 per cent of plastic waste gets recycled worldwide, with the remaining 40 per cent in landfills where 25 per cent gets incinerated, and 19 per cent is left to waste since plastic is not biodegradable nor compostable.
David Teitelbaum, the founder of Rose in Good Faith, told Dezeen he came up with the idea to create a shoe made from sex toys after visiting the adult toy factory and seeing all the excess products that didn’t pass QA.
“The little rough cubes from the broken toys sparked a memory of EVA pellets, and from there, the idea was born,” he said.
To produce Plastic Soul, plastic from damaged sex toys is ground into millimetre-sized cubes of Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPE), a polymer blend with elasticity similar to rubber, then mixed with EVA foam. The mixture is then poured into a mould to form a shoe.
The shoe’s design is comparable to Kanye West’s Yeezy sandals or Crocs, but Teitelbaum explained that it was inspired by the architecture of The Broad art museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
“We wanted to remove the taboo and start the conversation around sexual wellness and health while also making an incredible shoe that removed excess thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) that would have been thrown away or destroyed,” he concluded.