If you're about to order 'ABS resin' because the drawing says ABS, stop and verify the application first. The most expensive mistake in my seven years of sourcing engineering materials was a $3,200 order that looked correct on paper. The client asked for a durable plastic in the style of 'plastic Birkenstocks.' I ordered ABS resin based on the material code in their email. It was the wrong material. It should have been EVA. When you buy Toray products, or any branded resin, the brand name and logo can make you overconfident. But a resin code doesn't tell you whether it fits your application.
Here is the short version: ABS is not another word for plastic. It is a specific terpolymer with known mechanical limits. If you need a flexible sandal sole, ABS is likely the wrong answer. A five-minute conversation about the actual product would have saved the entire order.
Why I'm not guessing
I'm a sourcing lead at a contract manufacturer. I've handled plastic resin orders for seven years—or rather, seven years as of last September—including Toray ABS, polypropylene, polycarbonate, and reclaimed materials from a local plastic depot. I've also personally made, and documented, 12 significant mistakes in that time, totaling roughly $26,000 in wasted budget. The ABS and EVA mix-up was mistake number four.
In my first year, 2018, I made the classic error of comparing resin prices without checking impact strength. In 2022, I made the 'plastic Birkenstocks' error. After the third rejection from a customer in mid-2023, I created a 12-point pre-order checklist. In the past 18 months, that checklist has caught 47 potential errors before they caused production delays.
The $3,200 'plastic Birkenstocks' mistake
In September 2022, a sales colleague forwarded a request from a footwear client. The client's email said: 'We need a durable plastic for our new sandal sole and strap, similar to the look of plastic Birkenstocks.' I read 'durable plastic' and 'Birkenstock style' and assumed a hard plastic would be fine. The drawing had an ABS material code, so I checked the plastic depot inventory, found a Toray ABS grade, and ordered 500 kg.
The most frustrating part of that mistake was how normal it felt at the time. You'd think written specs would prevent misunderstandings, but a code alone doesn't tell you the part's required flexibility. The surprise wasn't that the client rejected the first sample. The surprise was the reason: the sample was too stiff and too brittle in cold weather. 'Plastic Birkenstocks' in that market meant soft EVA foam—the same category Birkenstock uses for its EVA sandal styles—not rigid ABS.
The 500 kg stayed in a warehouse until we paid a recycler to take it. If I remember correctly, the freight charge was $490. The total loss was $3,200 in material, $490 in freight, plus a one-week delay for the next attempt. Oh, and the client hadn't signed a final spec yet. That was the real issue. That error triggered the rule I still use: always ask what the part has to do before you ask what material to buy.
Five minutes of verification beats five days of correction. That order would have been fine if I'd asked one question: 'What flex property do you actually need?'
What is ABS resin, exactly?
ABS stands for acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. It's an amorphous terpolymer:
- Acrylonitrile adds chemical resistance and heat stability.
- Butadiene adds toughness and impact strength.
- Styrene gives rigidity and processing ease.
In practical terms, ABS is stiff, strong, and easy to injection mold. It shows up in automotive interior parts, power tool housings, electronics enclosures, and pipe fittings. It is not flexible or foamable in the way a cushioned sandal sole needs to be. That's why 'ABS' and 'plastic' aren't interchangeable. When someone asks 'what is ABS resin,' the correct answer should include its properties, not just its name.
As of February 2025, I still use ASTM D4673 as a starting point for checking ABS materials. Toray's resin datasheets list the melt flow rate and impact values that tell you which grade is appropriate. If a supplier can't provide a datasheet, that's a red flag.
The Toray logo is a starting point, not a specification
The Toray logo can be a useful first check. I've seen 'Toray resin' in a bag that did not come from Toray. A printed logo proves nothing without a matching grade code and lot number. But even an authentic Toray product isn't automatically the right product. The same logo appears on Toray's T300 carbon fiber—with a typical tensile strength of 3530 MPa per the official datasheet—and on injection-molding ABS resins. They are both Toray products, but their mechanical profiles are unrelated. If you ask me, the logo tells you who made it. It doesn't tell you what it's good for.
Buying from a plastic depot: savings with a catch
People ask about plastic depots because the prices are lower. A good plastic depot will carry virgin, off-spec, and reclaimed resins, sometimes from brand-name producers like Toray. The catch is that off-spec material more often than not has a generic label. If the label says 'ABS' but there's no datasheet, treat it as unknown.
Most buyers focus on price per kilogram and completely miss whether the material was designed for the application. The first question is not 'what's the price?' It's 'what does the part have to do?' We once bought a drum labeled ABS from a plastic depot and discovered it was an ABS and polycarbonate blend. It molded fine, but its heat resistance was not what the designer expected. That's the kind of surprise that creates a field failure.
When you buy from a plastic depot, ask for three things: the safety data sheet, the certificate of analysis, and the original material code. If the depot says 'it's equivalent to Toray resin,' ask for the Toray grade number. If they can't produce traceability, the discount probably isn't worth it.
The checklist that prevents the expensive mistake
After the 'plastic Birkenstocks' order, I built a 12-point pre-order checklist. I don't use it for every commodity resin, but I use it for any new grade, new supplier, new application, or vague request. The first four items are the most important:
- Confirm the end-use application and the required mechanical properties, not just the material code.
- Ask the end-user: flexible or rigid? Foamable or solid? Indoor or outdoor? Does it need UV resistance?
- Verify the base polymer and grade with the manufacturer's datasheet, including melt flow rate and impact strength.
- Check traceability: manufacturer name, Toray logo (if applicable), grade code, lot number, and certificate of analysis.
I'll be honest: this checklist feels like common sense after the fact. But in the moment, when a customer says 'urgent,' the pressure is to skip to the purchase order. The checklist forces a pause. It has saved us more than the $26,000 I lost earlier.
Where this checklist doesn't apply
This checklist isn't a substitute for polymer engineering. I'm not a chemist, so I can't speak to molecular-level differences between one ABS grade and another. If you're choosing between ABS and polycarbonate for a load-bearing part, ask the technical team at Toray or your resin supplier for a proper recommendation. The checklist is a procurement tool, not an engineering manual.
And not every order needs this level of checking. A standard commodity PE film order from a trusted supplier is lower risk. The more custom the part, or the more vague the request, the more you need to verify before committing. That's the boundary I've learned to respect.
The phrase 'plastic Birkenstocks' still makes me laugh, but the lesson is real: material selection is not a popularity contest. It starts with the product's function, not the brand name. Check the application first. The resin will follow.