Sleepers

Sleepers

Back in 2001, during an extended surf trip to the then civil war-torn east coast of Sri Lanka: surf buddies (turned footwear and fashion entrepreneur’s) Tor Marius and Frode came across flip flops in natural rubber and filled their board bags with gifts for friends and family during a factory visit.

16 years later, during an après surf, al fresco dinner at Tor Marius ́ surf shack in the Canary Islands, Frode’s wife and business partner Nina asked why no one is doing the flip flops she wants. She is a Central St Martins womenswear design graduate and just wanted a consciously made pair with a contemporary design aesthetic that she can wear with a dress in the city or on the beach. Having recently sold a Womenswear label they founded years earlier, Nina and Frode were on a world tour, with their two kids and were devastated to find some of their most treasured places turned into plastic dumps. We knew flip flops to be the world’s highest selling footwear with the vast majority being made of synthetic rubber from bi products of the petroleum industry.

Over two thirds of the microplastic in the ocean comes from synthetic fibers and rubber.

Tor Marius was ahead of the curve when during the turn of the century made it his mission to introduce sustainable footwear to the Nordics. Before the night was over, we had a plan to come up with a better option.