Thongs, Flip Flops, Sandals, Jandals, I decided to call them Rubbers.

The search begins…

In the summer of 2008 I needed some new Jandals. What I found was a whole lot of low quality, mass produced mediocre Jandals. Under all the flashy colours and cool designs they were unfortunately all much of a muchness, run of the mill low quality synthetic rubber jandals. So I decided to do some research into the more expensive big-name brands and was shocked to find out that big brand and big price did not necessarily equal big on quality. It seemed as though a genuinely decent pair of jandals for a decent price just didn’t exist.

So, in the end I settled for a generic $15 pair. Very very bad decision. After two weeks of painful wear the strap gave out and they were tossed in the bin, summer had barely begun.

I felt cheated. Don’t you think my feet…….. all Kiwi feet (the Jandal is one of our icons for goodness sakes), deserve better than that? Fast forward, Thailand 2009. The wound from the disappointing Jandal experience still hadn’t healed.

If you didn’t know before, you know now, Thai rubber trees produce some of the best rubber in the world. Would I find the world’s best Jandals in Thailand? Seems logical enough don’t you think?

Yes. I discovered a niche crafter of Jandals whose Jandals were so fine that in the moment I slipped them on…..is there such thing as Jandal bliss?

Getty Ho
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