Made of vs made from
 

Is there a difference between "made of" and "made from"? I can find lots of examples of both in google. However, when looking at the answer to the following fill-in-the-gap exercise : "don't buy those shoes - they are made ... plastic", the only answer given is "of". Thank you.

Re: Made of vs made from
 

"made from is often used to describe manufacturing processes (ex. shirt is made from 100% cotton)

made of emphasises the inherent material or qualities of something, and has a meaning similar to 'composed of' (ex. a ship floats although it is made of heavy metal)

made out of usually refers to something that has been transformed from one thing into another (ex. this bag is made out of rice)"

taken form mccarthy and carter's cambridge grammar of english :)

Re: Made of vs made from
 

yes, that sounds right to me.