5 Fun Things about Flip Flops

Flip Flops and sandals are footwears that polarise. Some people like them, others can't stand them at all. And anyway, men definately should never wear sandals. No matter how you feel about sandals, one thing is certain: if you wear sandals, you can possibly wear with white socks. Under no circumstances. Seriously.

Sandals have been around for ages. Literally for ages. The oldest sandals known examples are a good 5000 years old. This and more useless knowledge on sandals in cave paintings and space can be found here.

Egyptians painted faces on the soles

The first known sandals come from ancient Egypt. The pharaohs - or rather their subjects - made them from such simple materials as papyrus and palm leaves. A footwear for rich and poor alike, the queens of the Egyptians were eager to show off their wealth with jewels on the sandals.

The poor, of course, could not afford jewels on their shoes. But still they found ways and means to stroke their ego with the sandals. Some of them painted the face of an unpopular neighbour or someone else on the sole of the shoes, so they could trample on their rivals face with their shoes. In the figurative sense at least.

Sandals float through space

From the beginnings of sandals very quickly into the present. While the ancient Egyptians painted faces under their soles, NASA strapped highly sensitive measuring instruments under sandals and shot them into space.

On the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts were to wear the sandals so that NASA scientists back on Earth could come up with orthopaedic and physiotherapeutic exercises to slow down muscle atrophy in space. Fascinating how the humble sandal, the most basic footwear became an essential tool for space exploration.

Flip Flops are billion Dollar industry

Although Flip Flops are dirt cheap – which is one (maybe the most important) reason for their success, they are billion Dollar Business. Flip Flops are sold in massive numbers and even if they are really cheap, their production costs next to nothing

Therefore Flip Flops are the basis for a billion Dollar industry. On the other hand, they are the ultimate egalitarian footwear. For different reasons, people from all over the world wear them. In the western world most people wear them to the beach or shower, in different countries such as India, they are footwear for the poor.

And it is no wonder, that they are used all over the world. Archaeological remains show that tribes and peoples in all corners of the globe invented the simple and fool-proof system that a Flip Flop is.

The most expensive FlipFlops cost more than a small car

Isn’t it ironic? People all over the world appreciate flip-flops because they are cheap. This makes them just right for the occasional visit to the swimming pool or for the day labourers of India.

Maybe having heard of the customs of ancient Egyptian Queens a few resourceful businessmen thought what Egyptian queens can do, we can do it for a long time. And they made flip-flops worth 18,000 US dollars - with a large logo in 18-carat gold.

But you obviously can not argue about taste…

Cave men (and women) wore FlipFlops on the beach

So almost. But probably. Because actually there is a very well preserved specimen of flip-flops from the stone age. There are also several cave paintings showing Stone Age people wearing FlipFlops.

The Stone Age treaders are of course not made of rubber or plastic like today - but otherwise they look just like modern FlipFlops.