FashBlog.com

Written by James Fohl

With summer coming quicker than a sports car in the passing lane of a highway, all the retail stores that sell shoes are getting in boxes and boxes of flip flops.

Coming in every color of the rainbow, as well as a barrage of patterns, designs, and even logos and cartoon characters, flip flops have really become popular in the past decade.

And why shouldn't they? Flip flops are perhaps the greatest fashion accessory for summertime. From wearing a pair while you walk along the hot sand at the beach, to just wearing a pair while you walk around your pool's deck, flip flops provide the necessary protection your feet need and still give you the ability to easily slide them off and back on.

While flip flops are not really all that durable in a manner such as sandals are, most of them are really cheap. If you go into any Wal-Mart you will find literally thousands of different styles, and most are priced fewer than five dollars. A real bargain for the overall usefulness that flip flops will provide.

Most flip flops are pretty cheap, as mentioned above with the whole Wal-Mart example. Some stores, such as American Eagle charge ridiculous prices for flip flops that are actually far less comfortable than Wally World's three dollar special. Twenty-five dollars for a pair of plastic flip flops with a little logo on them is not my cup of tea; especially whenever that little logo rubs off after wearing the flip flops for less than a week.

Flip flops are known as jandals in New Zealand, and over in Hawaii people refer to them as slippers. Flip flops are different when compared with sandals for a variety of smaller reasons, but primarily due to the fact that flip flops do not have a backing that wraps around the back of the users foot.

While in America, flip flops are pretty much known only as a fashion accessory, they are the choice of footwear in most developing countries due to the fact that they offer sole protection for less than a dollar a pair. Even with such a low cost, street vendors exist in developing countries that offer repair services for broken flip flops. Now perhaps this is due to the fact that some people really do not wish to dispose of their favorite pair of flip flops, but still it displays just how dark some parts of the world really are.

Nonetheless, flip flops have invaded America. While just ten years ago, flip flops could be found in only a few select colors, and composed of rubber, today literally millions of different variations exist that are composed of many more comfortable materials.

With such cheap shoes as flip flops existing, any one can build a pretty large collection of shoes. The only downsides to flip flops are the fact that you only have the ability to wear one pair of flip flops at a time, and that flip flops can't really be worn in any other season despite summer, unless you live in a tropical region.