The Original Cooks Flip Flop
The Original Cooks Flip Flop
When we first set out to make flip flops, we started with a foot, not a previously constructed flip flop to build our design from. As designers with a decent understanding of materials, manufacturing, and flip flop construction, we knew right away that people were begging for a pair of sandals that wouldn’t blow out between the bar and the beach. Furthermore, we wanted to stop seeing all these plastic sandals heading to the landfill or way worse... our open spaces and oceans. So with those two thoughts in mind, we set out to exceed the industry standard by creating a durable, comfortable, eco-friendly, and stylish pair of flip flops that were built specifically for adventure.
For the first flip flops we used, truck floor mats served as outsole material while yoga mats made up the insoles. From there, we cut toe thongs from discarded polypropylene bags and using a dollar store sowing machine and super glue, fashioned the recycled parts together to create the very first Cooks Flips. While they were probably the ugliest flip flop ever created, they were amazingly functional, comfortable, and sustainable. But the journey had just begun.
We took the cleaned up the design as much as mpossible with our rudimentary tools and proceeded to sell our product at farmers markets across The State of South Carolina. The crowds went wild. finished and manicured level as possible with our rudimentary tools and we in turn were inspired to jump into the flip flop business. As a testament to the original product, there are still many happy owners of the original design still being wearing their OG pairs.
What is a Long Toe Thong?
One of the first things people notice about our flip flops is how long the toe strap is, or toe thong as we like to call it. This is a very unique design to Cooks flip flops and it serves many purposes but its main goal is to help reduce flop in the flip flop. The long toe thong also ...
- Allows the muscles throughout the foot to relax as the toes are not trying to clamp onto the toe thong for support and traction
- Improves agility especially in wet and precarious situations
- Bypasses the widest part of the foot while securing the straps closer to the ankle allowing for a more uniform fit for both wide, regular and narrow feet
- Shortens the distance from the heel of the foot to the fulcrum of the flip flop allowing for a huge increase in leverage in situations where the heel of the flip flop may be submerged in sand, mud, or water
But don't take our word for it. Listen to what our friend Dr. Zatcoff had to say about it...