Pick up a used tennis ball and you’re holding an object with an unexpectedly short life span. In professional matches, they’re swapped out every seven to nine games. That’s roughly thirty minutes of play before they’re discarded. Recreational players might get a few more sessions out of them before these balls lose their bounce and end up in landfills. Here, they decompose slowly, releasing methane for centuries. Of the 400 million produced annually, just about 1% are recycled.
Soroosh Riazi Isfahani, a designer educated at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London, faces this ecological challenge with his innovative project, SLICE. Entered into the James Dyson Award 2026, SLICE transforms used tennis balls into footwear. Instead of grinding or melting them into an unrecognizable form, Isfahani slices the balls into sections using a custom guide. This method keeps the rubber and felt intact, preserving the material’s inherent character.
The Art of Preservation Over Transformation
This approach sets SLICE apart. While conventional recycling often reduces materials to raw components, SLICE embraces the original properties of the tennis ball. By directly reassembling the cut sections into a shoe, Isfahani highlights what materials are intrinsically capable of becoming rather than reducing them to something else.
Initially, Isfahani experimented by shredding tennis balls and mixing them with natural rubber for outsoles. However, he found this method destroyed the unique structural qualities of the tennis ball, like its layers, bounce, and tactile felt surface. The shift from shredding to slicing not only preserves these qualities but respects the ball’s essence, creating footwear that’s both sustainable and authentic.
Beyond Performative Upcycling
In the world of fashion and footwear, labels promoting “recycled materials” have become commonplace, often lacking real substance. SLICE diverges from this trend. Its design method and sustainability logic are intertwined, making the tennis ball’s original attributes central to the product, not just a marketing gimmick.
Exploring sustainable innovations, materials like tennis balls can echo projects where PLM software advances sustainability, offering new eco-friendly methods and solutions.
The James Dyson Award is known for spotlighting ideas that blend innovative problem-solving with real-world needs. SLICE’s strength lies in finding a purpose that fits naturally, using tennis balls in a way that aligns with their intrinsic qualities. Rubber’s durability and felt’s grip are perfect for footwear, yet millions of tennis balls still end up as waste.
A New Path for Sustainable Design
The footwear industry faces sustainability challenges due to its complexity and underdeveloped recycling systems. SLICE doesn’t solve all issues but showcases a scalable design logic if embraced by the industry. A custom cutting guide turns tennis balls into shoes, offering an alternate journey for materials that previously faced wasteful endings.
For a tennis ball that sees just thirty minutes of professional play, this innovative transformation feels like a fitting, impactful conclusion.
Similar transformations in materials can be seen in how apple waste becomes fashion fabric, showcasing the potential of circular economy in design.
Source: yankodesign.com
Frequently asked questions
What happens to tennis balls after professional matches?
In professional matches, tennis balls are swapped out every seven to nine games, which is roughly thirty minutes of play before they’re discarded. They often end up in landfills where they decompose slowly, releasing methane for centuries.
How does SLICE transform used tennis balls?
SLICE transforms used tennis balls into footwear by slicing them into sections using a custom guide, preserving the rubber and felt intact. This method maintains the ball’s original properties instead of reducing them to raw components.
What makes SLICE different from conventional recycling?
SLICE differs from conventional recycling by preserving the tennis ball’s original structural qualities, such as layers and tactile felt surfaces, rather than reducing them to raw materials. This approach emphasizes the material’s inherent character and qualities.