What does one do with all the flip flop sandals that wash up on the beach? In Kenya, they get recycled and turned into beautiful works of art.

Ocean Sole Flip Flop Art is a social enterprise that works to reduce waste and create colorful products while employing and empowering local communities in Kenya. They recycle about a million flip flops a year and over one tonne of styrofoam a month. This helps to clean up the beaches and ocean in addition to saving hundreds of trees that would have otherwise been used.

The company is based on community, ensuring that the people are as important as the product.

Cleaning beaches, supporting coastal communities, marine conservation, creating sustainable employment and supporting education are all part of Ocean Sole’s mission.

Once the artists are done with the raw materials you would never guess that the finished pieces were made from old flip flops. The art ranges from small to life size and are bright, colorful and fun! The huge selection of species is sure to please every animal lover.

‘Inspired by the toys children were making out of the flip-flop debris, Julie Church, the Ocean Sole Founder, encouraged their mothers to collect, wash, and cut the discarded flip-flops into colourful products to sell at local Kenyan Markets as another means of income for their families.‘

This is a small sample of what is available and yes, they do custom work and ship globally! For more photos be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram.