Indosole Blog & News

The Biku sandal in Black Palm print was recently included in Bead & Reel’s ‘Head-To-Toe Ethical Makeover.’ In their words: “This comfortable, handmade sandal combines organic, vegan, and up-cycling all together while remaining stylish. She can wear these all day whether chasing after her toddler or relaxing on the beach and not have to worry about unhappy feet.” We couldn’t agree more. Thanks for including us, Bead & Reel! Read more about the makeover here!

A few months ago we were contacted by Joshua Shuckman, who runs "Social Change Nation" -  a site and podcast dedicated to promoting cause minded organizations and businesses. We finally got Kyle Parsons, Indosole's founder and president, on the phone to do an episode of Social Change Nation and the results were  pretty awesome. So if you want to hear how it all got started, the ups and downs of running a socially conscious business, and everything in between go ahead and listen to part 1 of Kyle's interview here: https://socialchangenation.com/029-part-1-kyle-parsons-of-indosole/ If you need it on the go, Social Change Nation is also available for download on Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/voices-social-change-social/id921408507

A few weeks ago, our friends Heather Kessinger and Good human Jaimal Yogis dropped by the Church of Surf to show us the new trailer to their film “The Most Fearless”. Their documentary takes place in the impoverished country of Bangladesh, and stars 16 year old Nasima who in order to escape a life a poverty, turns to surfing. Her goal is to become the best surfer ever in a conservative country where women don't even swim in public. Nasima, and all the other girls in the film were so inspiring and amazing to watch in these few clips. We appreciated and valued everything Jaimal and Heather were showing us, so they left with a box of multiple pairs of shoes for the girls to wear. Heather then sent us some photos and reported back that the girls were skating and running in our shoes! View the trailer here: The Most Fearless (short trailer) from Heather Kessinger on Vimeo.

Indosole displayed at it’s 3rd Agenda Tradeshow last week – January 5th-6th in Long Beach, CA www.agendashow.com Agenda is an invite-only show which unites retailers and today’s hip urban, fashion, and beach inspired brands from around the world. Agenda Show is always a great time to show off the product we have worked hard to produce while charming a retailer or two. Our booth was buzzing while we poured fresh Sumatran coffee throughout the day. Great Crew - Great time For a sneak peek of our 2015 line entitled “Pathways” go to: www.indosolecatalog.com 2015 product will hit stores in March! PATHWAYS “Choose the path that calls to you; and when you arrive you are exactly where you are meant to be.” --

Indosole will be displaying at it's 3rd Agenda Tradeshow this week - January 5th-6th in Long Beach, CA www.agendashow.com Agenda is an invite-only show which unites retailers and today's hip urban, fashion, and beach inspired brands from around the world. We are honored to be attending and will be posted up at booth #G11 showing our line and serving up fresh brewed Sumatran coffee all day long. For a sneak peek of our 2015 line entitled "Pathways" go to: www.indosolecatalog.com 2015 product will hit stores in March! PATHWAYS "Choose the path that calls to you; and when you arrive you are exactly where you are meant to be."

Yogabarn – Ubud, Bali Indosole is proud to announce our entry into the world of yoga this week as we now have a location at the beautiful Yogabarn in Bali. This is a huge moment for us as we start selling Indo’s in a completely new industry and can’t wait to see how the Yogi’s like our style!! Yogabarn is a relaxing and genuine place full of calm and healing that really aligns well with our mission statement and engages people to want to conserve the environment as we do. So, if you’re ever in Bali and want a spot to rest yourself after a day on the water, check out our friends at www.theyogabarn.com and don’t forget to grab a new pair of Indo’s!!

“Welcome to Bali, do you have any plastic bags to declare?” After a year of campaigning, Pastika, the Governor of Bali, has met 12 and 13 year olds Isabel and Melati Wijsen from the Green School in Bali. Finally he has signed the Memorandum of Understanding to take measures that will see the use of plastic bags minimised on Bali by January 1st, 2016. Pastika said he was touched by the social initiative of the “child led action” that had gained such attention on Bali and around the world, following their recent talk at INK India. “I am not a hero, it is part of my job,” replied Mangku Pastika. He said he not only sympathized with the project, he loved it and wanted to support it. The Bye Bye Plastic Bags campaign began in 2013 when the two Green School students attended the GIN conference and decided to follow their role models to take action to make a change in the world. Since then, the girls have gathered a team of kids from local and international schools around the island to support them and have managed to collect over 60,000 signatures for a petition [www.avaaz.org/en/bye_bye_plastic_bags_on_bali/?rc=fb] to ban the use of plastic bags on Bali by 2016. At the meeting today, Melati told the Governor of their dream that one day all those visiting Bali would be greeted at the airport with the words: “Welcome to Bali, do you have any plastic bags to declare?” “It won’t be easy” said Isabel,“ but together, working with the Governor, and all the kids from Bali, we can return this island to the beautiful paradise it was.”

The Bye Bye Plastic Bags Girls, Isabel and Melati Wijsen, are putting plastic where their mouths are in a bid to force a meeting with the governor of Bali to highlight the plight of their campaign to rid the island of plastic bags. On November 24, the girls will begin a food strike as added leverage to get the governor, I Made Mangku Pastika, to meet with them and put a timeline on a law that will ban the use of plastic bags on Bali. The girls, who have just returned from India where they were met with standing ovations at the INK Conference in Mumbai, have been gathering widespread support for their campaign in a bid to ramp up more support for the Bye Bye Plastic Bags (BBPB) petition to raise a million signatures. "It is now time for Pastika to meet with us," says Isobel. "We and the team have done a lot of hard work to get our campaign noticed and it is only fair that Pastika takes the time, like many prominent people have now done, to talk to us about how we are going to stamp out the problem of plastic bags in Bali," says Melati. "If we have to go on hunger strike to get his attention, then so be it," says Isobel. BBPB is a social initiative driven by children, local and international, living in Bali between 10 and 15 years old who are committed to preserving the beauty of Bali by banning plastic bag use. The initiative was founded by Green School students, Melati and Isabel Wijsen, in late 2013 and is now made up of a dedicated team of 25 children, with more joining from around the world every day. So far BBPB have raised nearly 65.000 signatures for their petition through AVAAZ, spoken to more than 3500 students across the world in three different languages and is running a plastic bag-free program in a pilot village on Bali, with local authority’s approval, as well as raising general awareness at markets, events and festivals. The group have already garnered significant support for their lobbying of national and international media and have met and received the support of Jane Goodall and her Roots and Shoots program as well as the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki moon. This week the team won Bali Yak Awards and received a nomination by The Role Foundation for Green School to become a role model high school for 2014. The BBPB team have sent many letters to the government and Governor but he has still not made any effort to respond. With all the publicity surrounding the campaign the girls have decided to act now to speed up the process. They will NOT stop drinking but WILL refuse solid food from sunrise to sunset from November 24 until they have this meeting. On November 28, the girls are asking their school and all those on Bali aware of their campaign, to join them. For more information contact; byebyeplasticbag@gmail.com sign their petition here https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Byebye_Plastic_Bags_On_Bali/?aDjcKgb

We are proud to announce a partnership with SurfAid Organization during this holiday season. Together, our goal is to promote the well-being and general health of women and children in Southeast Asia and beyond. www.surfaid.org Similar to Indosole, SurfAid began with a trip to Indonesia where the founder - Dr. Dave Jenkins was impacted by seeing women and children dying of malaria, malnutrition, and inadequate living standards. Dr. Dave decided to do what he could to stop the suffering. Now, SurfAid runs programs for Water & Sanitation, Malaria, Nutrition, and with community health centers. Read more here: https://www.surfaid.org/founders Indosole will do its part by offering a special deal on our popular Tan Burlap sandals and donate 15% of web sales back to SurfAid.