Flip Flop Into the Future

From snazzy designer flip flops to brandless Taiwanese imports, you can rest assured knowing that those flimsy rubber things you're slipping onto your feet have a long-lived place in the history of the world. That's right. Flip flops are as much of a fixture in fashion as blue jeans, and are appropriate in many circumstances. In fact, sliding on a pair can mean a trip to the beach or a trip to the laundromat. Furthermore, flip flops don't discriminate. They can be seen adorning toes across economic and ethnic boundaries, in thousands of variations, from plain rubber to embellished flip flops.

The basic structure of the flip flop is as classic as it gets when it comes to shoe design. There is even an Egyptian hieroglyph--consisting of a long oval with an inverted V shape--to represent the sandals ancestral to today's flip flops. In fact, King Tut's tomb is decorated with the original "flip flop" design, giving us a clear indication that the thonged sandal is one of the world's oldest forms of footwear. This particular design has long served many an expansive and varied genre of shoe, including the sandal in its most primitive form all the way up to modern designer flip flops.

Also called beachwalkers, zories, thongs, slaps and flaps, flip flops are the first pairs of shoes for millions of developing world consumers. In poorer nations, where flip flops are sold for under a dollar, they are more like the footwear status quo than the fashion of the day. Efforts are made to keep their costs low, for instance, by making them out of recycled tires. For someone who has been without their own pair of shoes, a first pair of flip flops can indicate a financial move upward. And so it goes once one is able to move from flip flops to a pair of closed toed shoes.

Over the centuries, the core design of the thonged sandal has evolved to meet new lifestyles, but for the past century, it has remained virtually unchanged. That classic inverted V has represented a blank canvas that has allowed designers creative license to make anything from really unusual to really sexy flip flops. No matter who makes them, they are always cheap and easy to produce, even if they have been marked up to suit the brand. But generally, should your brief relationship with a pair of flip flops end in a break-up, your wallet won't feel it.

Flip flops and sandals can be made with slides, wedges, kitten heels and so much more, for those who want some variety. They can be made from a variety of materials too, not limited to rubber, leather, wood, canvas, plastic, patent leather, fabric, suede, metallic finishes, and so on. Though there's some debate over the definition of a "flip flop" sandal, most agree that a flip flop has always been a flat, casual sandal that is open at the back, so you make a rhythmic flapping sound when you walk.

Depending on current fashions and the personality of the wearer, flip flops and their fancier cousins, thong sandals, can be adorned with riveted jewelry, buckles, rhinestones, fringes, and beading. The term "flip flop" generally refers to the simpler, more economical version of the thong sandal, although nice designer flip flops and embellished flip flops are available for those willing to spend a little extra.

Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com

Written by Kacy Suther. Stacie Bass makes designer flip flops and sexy flip flops for today's modern woman. Find their embellished flip flops at www.staciebass.com .

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