Our story starts in Kyle, Mid Canterbury, New Zealand in the late 1980s, where we grew up on a farm with cliffs overlooking the South West Pacific Ocean. Back then it was clear to us how our beaches were being affected by plastic waste, with fish and bird corpses constantly washing up ashore, mixed in with plastic waste from fishing nets, bottles and caps.
Now, this problem affects the entire world and its food supply, with an estimated 5.2 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans, of which 269,000 tons float on the surface. After being in the footwear industry for 7 years we realised we were in a position to do something about this, and the idea was born to create a product that could sustain the reduction of plastic in our ocean ecosystems, and recycled plastic in general, by using that plastic as footwear.
We aim to prevent and reduce plastic waste by transforming it into high-performance, recycled plastic flip-flops. Subs flip-flops are super comfy to wear, highly durable, upcyclable and environmentally friendly! Our jandal, tote & satchel bag range are made of recycled plastic sourced partly from beach cleans, post-consumer waste plastic, plus commercial and industrial plastic waste recycling, and we pledge to remove one kilo (2.20 lb) of marine debris from our ocean ecosystems for every pair sold.
Our impact to date: 176,712 kg or 389,583 lb of marine debris removed from our ocean ecosystems.