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Sustainable footwear brand R0am is debuting its first slipper, The Roam Slip. The brand is known for blending directional design with real-world function with its Neoprene sandals and fashion-forward platforms, and is now leaning into the flip-flop trend with its latest design.
The Roam Slip follows a thong sandal design with a low profile that’s good for indoor and outdoor wear. The new style features R0am’s signature Neoprene-molded upper, memory foam comfort and a custom checkerboard insole. The sandals are lightweight, packable and built for daily wear and can be worn inside, at the beach or thrown in a purse to switch into after a day in heels.
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The shoes are also introducing a sustainable tech underfoot: a 30 percent Bloom Rise footbed made from algae, designed to reduce petroleum use, capture CO2 and return clean water to the environment. Algae is the fastest-growing plant on Earth, making it one of the world’s most renewable resources.
It also doesn’t require chemicals to grow, growing naturally without fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. Unlike other biomaterials used in eco-friendly footwear, algae do not require arable land to grow, which helps preserve rainforests. Algae’s qualities allow it to act like a plastic, making it easy to blend with other polymers.
The design is also personal for R0am’s founder, Kay Sides, who grew up wearing the style in Hawai‘i. The Roam Slip is her elevated take on a local staple, with reimagined aspects of the brand’s signature aesthetic and its dedication to sustainability. The shoe is also a response to what R0am is seeing from its women customers dealing with foot sensitivities, who have found that the company’s footwear addresses their style versus function struggles.
“I’ve been fascinated by BLOOM technology for years. Their algae-based innovation has been around for over a decade and offers a multi-pronged environmental benefit, from cleaning air and water to reducing carbon emissions,” Sides says to FN. “As someone who grew up in Hawai‘i, immersed in nature and the ocean, I’ve always been deeply connected to the planet. At R0am, we’re committed to integrating certified, low-impact materials that reflect our ethos of doing as little harm as possible. This slipper was a year in the making – a true evolution for the brand that brings together our signature aesthetic with a meaningful sustainability backbone.”
Sides and her team have set out to solve real footwear problems with their shoes without compromising on style. Since launching in Los Angeles in 2019, the brand has evolved from their initial seasonal slides, which earned them a spot on FN’s 2021 Emerging Footwear Designers list, to a full lifestyle assortment spanning heels, wedges, boots and now slippers.
The Roam Slip will launch exclusively on roamwears.com on Friday and will retail for $65.
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