diff --git a/pkg/kmsg/api.go b/pkg/kmsg/api.go
index 812a90f3..da99c772 100644
--- a/pkg/kmsg/api.go
+++ b/pkg/kmsg/api.go
@@ -136,6 +136,15 @@ type Response interface {
 	RequestKind() Request
 }
 
+// UnsafeReadFrom, implemented by all requests and responses generated in this
+// package, switches to using unsafe slice-to-string conversions when reading.
+// This can be used to avoid a lot of garbage, but it means to have to be
+// careful when using any strings in structs: if you hold onto the string, the
+// underlying response slice will not be garbage collected.
+type UnsafeReadFrom interface {
+	UnsafeReadFrom([]byte) error
+}
+
 // ThrottleResponse represents a response that could have a throttle applied by
 // Kafka.
 //
@@ -235,6 +244,16 @@ func StringPtr(in string) *string {
 // point of this type is that it does not contain a version number inside it,
 // but it is versioned: if decoding v1 fails, this falls back to v0.
 func (s *StickyMemberMetadata) ReadFrom(src []byte) error {
+	return s.readFrom(src, false)
+}
+
+// UnsafeReadFrom is the same as ReadFrom, but uses unsafe slice to string
+// conversions to reduce garbage.
+func (s *StickyMemberMetadata) UnsafeReadFrom(src []byte) error {
+	return s.readFrom(src, true)
+}
+
+func (s *StickyMemberMetadata) readFrom(src []byte, unsafe bool) error {
 	b := kbin.Reader{Src: src}
 	numAssignments := b.ArrayLen()
 	if numAssignments < 0 {
@@ -243,10 +262,16 @@ func (s *StickyMemberMetadata) ReadFrom(src []byte) error {
 	need := numAssignments - int32(cap(s.CurrentAssignment))
 	if need > 0 {
 		s.CurrentAssignment = append(s.CurrentAssignment[:cap(s.CurrentAssignment)], make([]StickyMemberMetadataCurrentAssignment, need)...)
+	} else {
+		s.CurrentAssignment = s.CurrentAssignment[:numAssignments]
 	}
-	s.CurrentAssignment = s.CurrentAssignment[:numAssignments]
 	for i := int32(0); i < numAssignments; i++ {
-		topic := b.String()
+		var topic string
+		if unsafe {
+			topic = b.UnsafeString()
+		} else {
+			topic = b.String()
+		}
 		numPartitions := b.ArrayLen()
 		if numPartitions < 0 {
 			numPartitions = 0
@@ -256,10 +281,11 @@ func (s *StickyMemberMetadata) ReadFrom(src []byte) error {
 		need := numPartitions - int32(cap(a.Partitions))
 		if need > 0 {
 			a.Partitions = append(a.Partitions[:cap(a.Partitions)], make([]int32, need)...)
+		} else {
+			a.Partitions = a.Partitions[:numPartitions]
 		}
-		a.Partitions = a.Partitions[:0]
-		for i := numPartitions; i > 0; i-- {
-			a.Partitions = append(a.Partitions, b.Int32())
+		for i := range a.Partitions {
+			a.Partitions[i] = b.Int32()
 		}
 	}
 	if len(b.Src) > 0 {