Vivobarefoot, a London-based purveyor of so-called “barefoot” footwear, is going green in an altogether unexpected way. Together with Bloom, a materials innovation firm from San Diego, the company is poised to debut the world’s first molded shoe derived from algae.
No, swamp couture hasn’t suddenly become en vogue. Rather, Bloom harvests biomass from ponds and lakes, particularly those at risk for algal overload, and turns it into closed-cell foam known as ethylene-vinyl acetate, or EVA for short.