Conscious Fashion: The Infinite Flip Flop

The other day, I was walking across a pool deck and my flip flop strap snapped and broke.  I was miffed.  This was a huge bummer because they weren’t even old and I didn’t have any other shoes with me.  But more irritating, I couldn’t help feeling like it was such a waste.  I had no other choice but to throw them away.  Or so I thought.

After some research, I’ve discovered that there are a lot of efforts out there to recycle flip flops in conscious and fashionable ways.  The first one I found was Flip Flop Replay, an effort by Old Navy, in partnernship with Terracycle, to collect old flip flops to create new playgrounds. (I won’t dwell on the irony of the fact that the very flip flops of mine that snapped for no reason were, in fact, from Old Navy).  Another similar project is the Flip Flop (i was) project, which works with locals in South Africa to make creative jewelry and sculptures out of flip flops that wash up on the shorelines.

Turns out, there is a lot of jewelry and other trinkets out there made from recycled flip flops.  Check out these colorful bracelets from the Paper Source, this distinct necklace from Sephari and these keychains from Good Gifts Naturally.  And if you’re in town, check out the stretchy rings made from flip flops in the Musical Instrument Museum’s museum store, from a local artist.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll never look at my flip flops the same way again.