Health and Fitness

What are flip flops?

Flip-flops are a form of shoe that consists of a flat sole which is kept loosely around the feet with a Y-shaped straps that passes between your first and second toes and then about each side on the foot. Flip flops are mostly worn as an informal footwear. The first types for this form of footwear originated as early as the historic Egyptians about 4000 B.C.. The word flip flop has been used since at least the 1960’s to refer to this sort of footwear and originated from the sound made by the sandals when walking with them. They have a variety of labels in various places including thongs or occasionally pluggers around Australia, jandals in NZ, slops in South Africa along with tsinelas in the Philippines.

The original Egyptian type of flip flops were created from papyrus in addition to palm leaves. In Africa, the Maasai people constructed these with rawhide. In India and also surrounding locations, these were manufactured from wood. Rice straw was adopted in China and Japan. In early Greece, the foot band had been put on in between the 1st and 2nd toes, whereas Roman variants placed the band in between the 2nd and 3rd toes. In Mesopotamia the band appeared to be between the 3rd and 4th toes. The modern type of the flip flop became popular in the United States when soldiers returning from World War 2 introduced Japan's zori with them and it they during the 1950s. By the 1950’s the bright colorings started to take over the creations. The popularity seemed to be for the most part resulting from their comfort and usefulness especially in seaside inspired retail outlets as summer footwear and have become associated with the seaside lifestyle in California.

The actual market size with the flip flops is difficult to check due to the variety of producers that happen to be involved. It was suggested that back in 2009 the size of the marketplace was in the vicinity of $20 billion making it a larger market than the size of the sneakers marketplace. The main segment of this marketplace are the made in huge amounts straightforward variants that are frequently produced in China and may retail for a couple of dollars a pair. In the opposite end within the variety are the designer brand names that could be very expensive in the retail shop.

Within medical experts you can find some conversation concerning just how healthy they are for your feet. While the sole with the flip flop can protect the feet from the terrain, the lack of protection with the top of the foot may expose the feet to trauma. This is especially critical in industrial settings in which they might be prohibited. The bottom is flat, and so the flip flops may not be supporting for those that may need more arch support. The answer here is to use the arch supportive flip flops, like the Archies brand name that have an arch support that are part of these flip flops. These Archies were created by a physiotherapist and are really popular around Australia. The strap on flip flops also means the toes have got to grasp to help carry them on the feet, which also can be a problem for many people.