Kickstarter

What is this project all about? 

We came up with the project because we're a group of Californians who love the California lifestyle and mantra.  Regardless of where we are in the world, we can't stop gushing about the In-N-Outs, the hang-over curing pho, or the weather (what seasons?) to our friends.  And what represents the laid-back California lifestyle better than flip-flops?

There are plenty of shirts about California, but in flip-flops most options available are corporate branded logos.  But why not combine the authentic California Republic flag with top quality and fashionable havaiana flip-flops?  With the Calihavas, whether you're at Santa Monica beach, the Bahamas, or at an out-door concert in UK, you can represent the California spirit in the greatest style and comfort while being more subtle than a California t-shirt.

We love California and we know others do as well, please help us make this project a reality! 

Where we're at now
So we've spent most of our time designing this flip flop and we created an awesome sample which we used for the video.  We spent a lot of time in the Havaiana store working with the staff to match colors, keeping the authentic brown, red, and white color scheme and come up with a design to be the hottest pair to hit your favorite beach this summer. 

So why we need funding? Basically in order for us to offer Havaianas at lower then retail price and apply our design, we need bulk.  A classmate from Brazil had a contact for us at Havaiana and we were excited.  When we reached out we discovered the minimum order quantity was 150 pairs for the white flip flops with custom brown straps.  The funding really is going to paying wholesale price of Havaianas and the custom print setup to run a batch in Brazil.  There's really not much in the way of profit unless we sell over 200 pairs, but we really just want these to be made!  Flip-flops are essential to our laid back Cali culture and we believe putting that this will help spread our free spirited notion when worn outside of our borders. 

Who is part of this project? We're native Californians taught born out of UC system that love the golden state and wear flip flops everywhere we go. Whether you're humming California Dreamin, Californication, California Girls, or Hotel California - we know you'll be conjuring up some sweet memories. We're from California, from left to right: Hiro is a Santa Cruz native who was a marketing/sales ninja at Hitachi, Nada is a San Diego native who was our lovely model in the video shoot, and Eddie is a Los Angeles native who is a prospective IDEO intern. 

What's so special about Havaianas? Havaianas are arguably the most comfortable rubber flip flops ever made.  They are also being worn by a ton of celebrities and is a fashion staple, not in small part due to their sponsorship of the Oscars awards ceremony.  Established in 1962, they were inspired by traditional Japanese zori sandals - you know those ones you see worn in all the samurai movies. That's actually why if you look closely at the base of Havaianas, you'll see a rice texture pattern. Basically these sandals are sexy, comfortable, and durable.

Cool, now this is where you can help (and score a pair) We intend on making 300 pairs, which we think is fairly substantial.  The sooner we hit the goal the sooner we'll get production going and make sure you'll get your pair well before summer ends.  We can accomodate a most sizes, specifically US Sizes: 3, 4/5, 6, 7/8, 9, 10/11, 12. They fit true to size for us, but some people say otherwise so it's probably best to try on a pair at your local department store.  We have two basic styles to choose from:

Unisex pair:

Girlie Slim pair (we don't know why Havaiana charges more for these!):