- Rainbow Sandals
Rainbow Sandals Inc. was established in
1974 inSan Clemente, California by Jay "Sparky" Longley. The company specializes in men's and women's leather,hemp , and rubberflip-flops .When Longley first started making
sandal s, he was assembling 15 pairs per day out of leather and Malaysian rubber in the garage of his Laguna Beach home. The company eventually relocated to San Clemente and began manufacturing 1,200 pairs of sandals a day. Since 2002, the majority of the sandals have been produced in China.Once sold exclusively in California, Rainbow has grown to become one of the top three best-selling brands of sandals in the United States, along with competitors Reef and Teva. Rainbows are generally regarded as high-end flip-flops (as opposed to ordinary foam rubber ones) due to their construction with a leather thong and footbed, with many pairs costing around $40. There are only two full Rainbow Sandals stores in the US currently, one in
Los Angeles and one inNew York City . One can also purchase the sandals from the San Clemente warehouse store and online, as well as in various clothing outlets such asUrban Outfitters ,Pac Sun , andJourneys .Breaking them in
Rainbows have built-in arch support and mold to the wearer's individual foot shape. Rainbow officially recommends a number of procedures to "break them in", as some first time users may find that the straps are too tight, or the toe piece is too far back. These include getting them wet and wearing them wet in order to make the materials more supple to mold to the wearer's feet, as the sandals were originally designed for surfers and longboarders. They also recommend that one physically stretches the straps by hand and/or place a round object, such as a water bottle, under the straps at night.
References
*cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Staying One Step Ahead |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082701404_pf.html |work=Washington Post |publisher= |date=July 26, 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-27
*cite news |first=Jennifer |last=Bellantonio |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Rainbow Sandals Goes Upscale; $50M in Sales. APPAREL: Sandal maker counts 80 local workers; more stores due
url=http://www.sdbj.com/article.asp?aID=120766&link=perm |work=San Diego Business Journal |publisher= |date=Dec 31, 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-27
*cite news |first= Hang |last=Nguyen |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= $7 billion sandal industry is in midst of one of its prime selling seasons |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-14964381_ITM |work=Orange County Register |publisher= |date=21 APR 2006 |accessdate=2008-07-27
*cite news |first=Kendra |last=Marr |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=He's caught up in sandal.
url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-11617829_ITM |work=The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, California) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News) |publisher= |date=16 NOV 2005 |accessdate=2008-07-27External links
* [http://www.rainbowsandals.com/Default.asp| Official Site]
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