Boiling Point - Episode 058 - Kyle Parsons

Your Path will Emerge

 

Introducing Kyle Parsons

Looking toward the future, the paths our life takes doesn’t necessarily seem to be interconnected.  However, with the right attitude and openness to new experience we can often look backward and see how our completely unrelated experiences have been linked to a present outcome.  Call it serendipity, fate, happenstance, or destiny, we often find that indirect roads from point A to point B seem to come about 

This is just like the story of Kyle Parsons and his company Indosole.  This San Franciscan had previously interned at New Balance shoe company, worked in surf shops managing the sandals section, and had spent time working at a recycling plant in the east coast.  Somewhat unrelated right?  However, Kyle’s disjointed experiences seemed to gel during a family surf trip to Bali back in 2004 when he was on the hunt for a fresh pair of sandals. 

Coming upon a local market, Kyle saw a really cool pair that was made by local artisans.  The unique thing about these sandals was that the bottoms were made from recycled motorcycle tires.  They weren’t the most comfortable, but they were stylish and cool, and upon further research Kyle found out that tire waste was a huge problem in Indonesia.  His past experiences and a chance meeting got the gears grinding in his mind and he returned to Bali in 2006 with the plan to start his own footwear company that would aid the environment, help out the people of Indonesia, and make him some money. 

Kyle has since grown his B-Corp from receiving suitcase loads of footwear to container loads and has the goal to repurpose a million tires and keep them from adding to landfills.  Check out this episode of Boiling Point to be inspired by the positive impacts you can make using your past experiences and the right attitude.

 

In this episode

• Kyle tells us the story of Indosole and how he never saw himself previously as the head of footwear business.
• He goes on to tell us about the growth of the company and how a suitcase of sandals being imported is has become container loads.
• Kyle explains how tires are not the only thing he repurposes for his shoes and his commitment to the Indonesian community.
• He explains how he got the financing to start the project while working as an on-the-road sales rep.
• Kyle also tells us how he gets around needing the celebrity endorsement that many footwear companies rely on and how this idea helps to foster community.
• He also tells us about an incredible opportunity to intern for Indosole in Bali.  Surfs up!
• Greg is inspired by Kyle’s journey and asks how many challenges are right on our doorstep that we could turn into mission based businesses if you let “the rubber hit the road” and have “lots of sole”.
• Greg and Dave both note how seemingly unrelated events can turn into something so big.
• Greg recalls how chance encounters ignited his passion and got him partially to where he is today.

 

Links

- The Indosole Website

- Indosole's Good Humans

- Music from Indosole Good Human Dustin Thomas

- Indosole Retail Locator

- Indosole on Facebook

- Indosole on Instagram

- Indosole on Twitter