Amanda Carye stumbled on the idea for her shoe company, Idoni, when she moved to Italy for a six-month business course. Strolling past gelato stands and chapels in Venice, she came across shops selling furlane, a slipper invented during the Second World War, when resources were scarce. At the time, Italian shoemakers—whose craft is still passed down from generation to generation—took pride in being able to make a beautiful shoe out of pretty much anything.

They used old bicycle tires to create soles with good grips, jute bags for a waterproof interior, and lush recycled fabrics like velvet curtains or silk dresses for the upper. The result was a shoe that looked like a cross between a ballet flat and a smoking slipper, with a colorful exterior and excellent traction. "Old ladies remember wearing furlane when they were children, running around in the countryside," Carye says. "The shoes are highly functional, but they are also very elegant."