Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Plastic Soul shoes are modeled outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes are modeled outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes are modeled outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes appear outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes appear outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Gabriella Villanueva, clockwise from left, Marina Medina, Gladys Sibrian and Margarita Enriquez assemble Plastic Soul shoe packages at the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Gabriella Villanueva, clockwise from left, Marina Medina, Gladys Sibrian and Margarita Enriquez assemble Plastic Soul shoe packages at the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes are readied for packing at the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from from unused or defective sex toys.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sex toys and shoes? Try, sex toys IN shoes.

A little streetwear label has partnered with a giant in the adult toy industry to create a shoe derived in part from unused, defective amusements that come off the manufacturing line as misfits.

Looking a lot like Merrell's popular Hydro Moc or Yeezy's Foam Runners, Plastic Soul is about 15% sex toy. The rest is non-bleach EVA, a petroleum-based foam that's difficult to recycle.

The shoe is the brainchild of David Teitelbaum, founder of Rose in Good Faith, and Chad Braverman, chief operating officer for Doc Johnson, the adult toy company his father founded in 1976.

More than two years in the making, Plastic Soul has yet to create the buzz of a Yeezy or the kicks of other titans in sneaker culture. And it doesn't particularly live up to its own marketing hype as a major sustainable option, but the two Los Angeles businessmen are proud nonetheless.

“Personally, I love shoes. So it was a cool product, a really interesting way to get Doc Johnson on board with something that I would never ever do,” Braverman said from the company's headquarters in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Teitelbaum is a collaboration king with elevated Ed Hardy, Lil Peep and Juice Wrld hoodies, T-shirts and other merch under his belt. Before the pandemic, he was looking for something new. He met with an adult film company, which put him on to Doc Johnson.

Braverman isn't sending a lot of sex toys to landfills and is able to reuse some of the base material from his manufacturing rejects, but he was happy to figure out what to do with the rest. He said he took on the shoe collaboration not as a garden variety publicity stunt but to promote sex positivity through fashion and innovation. That's fine with Teitelbaum.

“Something like 28% of the sales are going to women,” Teitelbaum said. “We're hitting an interesting narrative. I think there’s a deeper connection.”

The shoes were introduced in white last month and weren't a sold-out-in-seconds phenom online or in several retail stores around the world. Next up is a black colorway.

Braverman and Teitelbaum are grinding down the sex toy defects into millimeter-sized cubes of thermoplastic elastomer, a mix of rubber and plastic that lends itself to injection molding. That's how the $130 slip-on shoes are made. Teitelbaum, who designed the shoe, added a natural cork insole for extra support.

Teitelbaum plastered LA with cheeky advertisements to start. To promote exclusivity, the two are making limited batches, but a rollout of more colors is planned. A month after introduction, the first iteration of 1,600 pairs had yet to sell out.

The online feedback has been mixed, Teitelbaum said.

“A lot of it has been, ‘You look like Yeezy, go (expletive) yourself,'" he said. “But we also get so much love.”

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Smaller metros in the Sun Belt that have a lower cost of living and less population density have proven popular for professionals.

There's a lot of uncertainty at this point in the season about when, exactly, to dig up potatoes. Here's what gardeners need to know.

The days of forgetting your lunch money are gone — at least in California, the first state to have a statewide free school meal program.

As pets reach their golden years, they require a lot more health care to stay healthy and happy. Here are some helpful expert tips.

Millions of Americans will be able to buy hearing aids without a prescription later this fall, under a long-awaited rule finalized Tuesday.

Hives are an allergic reaction and can sometimes be a sign of a more serious immune response.

Good egg salad should be creamy (but not too mayonnaise-y) with a hint of tang and a little bit of crunch.

Apple disclosed serious security vulnerabilities Wednesday for iPhones, iPads and Macs. The software flaws could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices, Apple said. The company said in a security statement that it is “aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.” Security experts have advised users to update affected devices — the iPhone6S and later models, newer iPads and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey. It also affects some iPod models.

Here are some tried-and-true tips from experts on how to ease those "please-let-me-get-to-sleep" worries.

U.S. regulators have finalized a long-awaited rule that's expected to allow millions of Americans to buy hearing aids without a prescription. The rule announced Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration goes into effect this fall. It creates a new class of hearing aids that don’t require a medical exam, a prescription and other specialty services. Instead the devices will be sold online or over-the-counter at pharmacies and other retail stores. The move follows years of pressure from medical experts and consumer advocates to make the devices cheaper and easier to get. Devices for more severe hearing loss will remain prescription only.

Plastic Soul shoes are modeled outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes are modeled outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes are modeled outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes appear outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes appear outside the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Gabriella Villanueva, clockwise from left, Marina Medina, Gladys Sibrian and Margarita Enriquez assemble Plastic Soul shoe packages at the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Gabriella Villanueva, clockwise from left, Marina Medina, Gladys Sibrian and Margarita Enriquez assemble Plastic Soul shoe packages at the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from unused or defective sex toys.

Plastic Soul shoes are readied for packing at the Doc Johnson factory and corporate offices, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022, in Los Angeles. Streetwear label Rose in Good Faith and sex toy company Doc Johnson have partnered to create a shoe derived in part from from unused or defective sex toys.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.