Footwear Maker Gets Its Kicks By Turning TSMC's Silicon Waste Into Cheap Shoes

A Taiwanese footwear brand known for its award-winning designs and eco-friendly initiatives has become the first company to start making shoes using recycled silicon waste. How does one incorporate rigid material like silicon into flexible footwear, you might ask? Read on.

Taiwan-based Ccilu (pronounced “chee-loo,” Japanese for “liberation”) is a relatively recent upstart in the footwear space. Founded in 2011, the company focused on creating eco-friendly and unique shoes. Some of its well-received, Red Dot-winning lines of shoes include the Xpresole (soles made of recycled coffee grounds and PET) and GreenPlax (shoes made from recycled PET bottles).

Its latest brainchild, called Stepping Stones, comes from the mind of Ccliu CEO Wilson Hsu and his team. Stepping Stones products feature recycled silicon waste that’s used in their uniquely designed massage pod insole. The line first came about in 2018 with flip-flops (which look remarkably like the discontinued one-of-a-kind Vivobarefoot Achilles), but now is available as slip-ons with interchangeable insoles.


Ccilu sources much of its silicon waste from Semisils Applied Materials Co., which is silicon waste treatment partner of one of the world’s largest chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). Each pair of Stepping Stones shoes is said to reduce crude oil consumption by 0.5 liters and carbon emissions by 1kg. In a statement in Focus Taiwan, Hsu said that “TSMC has been dubbed the 'sacred mountain' to protect Taiwan, and why would Ccilu not roll out 'sacred shoes' made of TSMC's silicon waste.”

Hsu is planning on rolling out sneakers and other footwear incorporating silicone waste soon, although there’s no specific timeline for that. If you’d like to snap yourselves a pair of Stepping Stones flip-flops ($41.40, unisex) or slip-ons ($70, currently women only), Ccilu’s e-store has them ready to ship to the US for $8 (or free for orders more than $80). As a side note, don’t be alarmed if you see a different “-cilu” branding on the site. The company has been undergoing a rebranding exercise where the shoes will sport new “-cilu” logos, whereby the removal of the first “c” and adding the negative symbol symbolize a reduction in carbon emissions.