Talk:Flip-flops

Lead section
I have removed "Japanese sandals", "thongs" and a couple other references from the lead section. They can be represented in the body of the text. The most common name is "flip-flops" which is appropriately the title of the article. Let us please not clutter up the lead section. Thanks. — Nearly Headless Nick   {C}  08:44, 10 February 2012 (UTC) PS: The correct word is "thong sandals" not "thongs". — Nearly Headless Nick   {C}  08:46, 10 February 2012 (UTC)


 * That's the kind of post that almost seems designed to inflame discussion here rather than help make a better article. There is no "correct" word. English doesn't work like that. Your Edit summary comment - Also a "thong" is not a flip-flop - is particularly unhelpful. I'm in Australia. The ONLY name this footwear has been known as in this country for all of my long lifetime is "thongs". I find it easy to accept that other names are used elsewhere. You should try to accept it too. I have no idea what "the most common name" is. I don't know how you can possibly know. I am going to again put the article back the way it has been for some time, and it should stay that way until a different consensus arises here, or until you can find sources for your claims. Since the latter cannot happen (see my comment about the name "thongs" above), it means you must wait for other editors to comment here, so please do not make any more changes now. HiLo48 (talk) 10:57, 10 February 2012 (UTC)


 * By your reasoning Hawaii chappal should also be included in the lead? There are independent and reliable sources available which will confirm that this term is widely referred to in the Indian subcontinent. The most WP:COMMONNAME is also the article name.  It's very bad taste to revert war over something like this. —  Nearly Headless Nick   {C}  11:05, 10 February 2012 (UTC)


 * There is no such thing as a "Hawaii chappal". The term you are thinking of derives from Hindi (India), and is spelled "Hawai chappal". On the island of Hawai'i, flip-flops are either known as the American term "flip-flops" or as "slippers". WTF? (talk) 18:31, 19 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Why??? Not everyone calls them flip-flops. I think this is cultural imperialism 192.176.1.83 (talk) 12:06, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Years and origins of popularity
"In the United States the flip-flop descends from the Japanese zōri, which became popular after World War II as soldiers brought them back from Japan. They became popular unisex summer footwear[1] starting in the 1960s."

These sentences are problematic. Firstly, the majority of the world is not the United States of America. "Jandals" were produced in New Zealand in 1957, "Thongs" in Australia in 1959. "Zoris" were being sold as such in the US (and possibly elsewhere) by Japan in the 1950s, however the US did not sell "flip flops" until the 1960s. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/maurice-yock-trademarks-jandal

Secondly, whilst they held their place in the market - they didn't really become popular in the US until the 1990s. https://www.marketplace.org/2016/08/05/origin-story-flip-flop/

In Australia, Dunlop sold "thongs" since 1959. They have been a staple of Australian footwear ever since - and form part of the national self image.

Considering that this footwear were not called "flip flops" until the 1960s, and they were already called "zoris", "jandals" or "thongs" before then - you need to question why these names aren't right at the top in the lead section.

192.176.1.83 (talk) 12:29, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Sparkly business casual?
I'm no expert on flip-flops, but I'm not sure that being sparkly or not has anything to do with it? And the paragraph that mentions it goes on to say that's considered business casual, which I think must be some sort of joke... Wikinetman (talk) 22:05, 16 June 2012 (UTC)


 * That must've been removed. The only statement that refers to "business casual" is an unsourced statement: "However, they are not considered flip flops if they have a strap around the heel or ankle, or they have more than a 1/2 inch heel. In any of these cases the shoe would be considered more along the lines of a business casual sandal." WTF? (talk) 21:33, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

article cleanup
I've cleaned up the article and removed the cleanup tag from 2009. The information has been organized into four main sections:


 * etymology -- dealing with the terminology across the globe, as well as the origin of the term.
 * history -- covering their origin since ancient times.
 * design and custom -- covering the design and customs involved in wearing them.
 * health and medical implications -- covering the injuries that are common among wearers.

I removed the manufacturing section. Some of the information regarding what materials they're made of is in the design & custom section. Information about all of the various manufacturers is really not necessarily -- I think there are probably literally hundreds of makers of flip-flops across the world, and listing all of them is probably not appropriate. Many of the citations in the old section were just direct links to manufacturer websites anyway, which is a violation of WP:EL. WTF? (talk) 20:47, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

good faith re-addition of image to article
Here was deletion of image:Flip-Flops socks.jpg with cloudy statement. The image is compatibly to the topic of the article, since those socks were specifically designed to be worn with flip-flop sandals. --Neptuul (talk) 07:19, 9 August 2012 (UTC)


 * The image was removed not for incompatibility with the topic itself. It was removed because there is already an image illustrating the wearing of toe socks with flip flops, and to reduce image crowding. It's not necessary to have an image of every single example of wearing socks with flip-flops in the article, and in this case, the image that was kept is more aesthetically appealing due to the angle that the picture was taken (a shot of someone else wearing them as opposed to a self-taken photo). WTF? (talk) 14:54, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Hawai chappal
I have reverted this edit, which reintroduced the association of the Hindi term "Hawai chappal" with the island of Hawai'i. This is incorrect. While the reference itself does correctly attribute the term's usage in India, the editor is correct that the term "air sandal" is not found in the article. However, one can easily verify the information via Google Translate by typing in "air sandal" in English and translating to Hindi -- although the Hindi words are written in Sanskrit, an audio translation is available which will confirm that "Hawai chappal" translates to "air sandal". I think it's easy to get this confused, given the similar spellings of "Hawai" and "Hawai'i" using the roman alphabet. WTF? (talk) 18:54, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

New Zealand Jandals
A user keeps trying to reinsert the following into the etymology section of the article:


 * There is some controversy in New Zealand regarding the invention of the name "jandals". The name was trademarked October 4 1957 by Morris Yock and eventually passed to Skellerup. However it is also claimed that the name was first thought of by John Cowie, Mr Yock's friend, who started manufacturing a plastic version of the Japanese wooden sandals in the late 1940s in Hong Kong.[7]

While it's of minor and trivial interest, probably moreso in New Zealand, it doesn't really pertain to the overall global use of the word, nor does it disprove the use of the term "jandals". What it is is essentially some trivial infighting between two individuals in a trademark dispute over who owns the term. The article is really only concerned with which terms are used, not who owns the trademark on which terms. A minor trademark dispute does not meet the threshold for inclusion in a general article about the subject. WTF? (talk) 19:38, 5 October 2012 (UTC)


 * I think the part of this which is of greater interest is the date the term was trademarked in comparison to the dates (not yet in the article) when the other more well-known terms began being used in English.
 * According to Etymonline (which doesn't have an entry for "jandal") the term "thong" for this footwear has been in use since 1965 and the term "flip-flop" / "flip flop" has been in use since 1972. According to Wiktionary "thong" was in use in United States, especially in certain areas and especially up to the 1980s, after which "thong" came to mean a certain type of G-string.
 * The trademark dispute in New Zealand involves a specific and verifiable date which proves that "jandal" pre dates "thong" and "flip flop" by decades. This is surprising and interesting. I would not be surprised if the footwear was known by various circumlocutions like "Japanese sandal" before these three terms settled into fixed usage.
 * I think this information, when properly sourced from citable primary sources would be of great interest to the article. I've often witnessed people argue over which term for this footwear is "correct" so the full story would be good for settling those debates. &mdash; Hippietrail (talk) 06:09, 29 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "The article is really only concerned with which terms are used..." Who says so? Excluding the information is officious, and Tango.Foxtrot's reason for excluding it us no reason at all. IF I wanted to know where the term "jandal" came from, this is the article I would come to. Where else on Wikipedia would the info go. Does Tango.Foxtrot expect a special separate article on the origin of different names for flip-flops? Get a grip! And let the information go in. Koro Neil (talk) 02:49, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

THE Aussie National Attire
I'm a little suprised that there's not a subsection under customs noting that the thong is part of the australian national attire - even the Australian Government thinks so.

It forms part of the triptych of shorts; singlet and thongs. Throw in a ute and a stubbie and you're done.
 * Thoglette (talk) 13:37, 24 May 2013 (UTC)


 * The linked article does NOT say that thongs are official "national attire", so adding it to the article as such would be grossly inaccurate and horribly inappropriate. It merely says that thongs are popularly worn. WTF? (talk) 16:08, 12 July 2013 (UTC)

Other types of flip-flops
This article only talks about one type of flip-flop. In addition to the thong flip-flops with the strap between the toes, there is also another type of flip-flop that has no strap between the toes. Instead, it has a horizontal strap that goes over the top of the foot.

This is what it looks like: http://media.photobucket.com/image/adidas%20duramo%20slide%20g15890/aa-sports/Shop%20Pics/adidasduramoslideG15890-3.png?o=2

SuperHero2111 (talk) 19:58, 10 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Sorry, but "media.photobucket.com" is NOT a valid source for adding to the article. Please see WP:RS regarding what is. WTF? (talk) 16:02, 12 July 2013 (UTC)


 * No, you misunderstood what I meant. I wasn't going to add that picture to the article as a source. The only reason why I added the link to that picture is to show what the flip-flops that I am talking about look like. I didn't mean to cite that link, or anything. I just included that link, so that people could see and realize what I was talking about. SuperHero2111 (talk) 23:50, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

Health and medical implications
The section about possible health risks is terribly biased and wrong. Our feet don't need any support; on the contrary, going barefoot or wearing minimalist footwear (such as flip-flops) is actually much healthier for the feet than wearing supportive shoes. And people with flat feet do not need support. Flat feet are either caused by weakness due to wearing shoes, or genetics. If they're caused by the former, then starting to go barefoot will strengthen your feet and might raise your arches. If it's the latter, then there's nothing wrong with your feet. There are actually many habitually-barefoot people with flat feet who have perfectly healthy feet and no foot problems. This whole 'support' paradigm is just a load of rubbish, and I think that it should be removed from here. SuperHero2111 (talk) 00:01, 8 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I tend to agree with you, but the article has sources supporting the negative perspective. They do seem a bit tabloid though. I guess the best approach is to find some decent sources supporting your point of view, and at least rewrite that section of the article to say something like "There are conflicting views on whether flip-flops are good for the feet. Some sources suggest they can be dangerous.... However, others point out that...." HiLo48 (talk) 00:31, 8 September 2013 (UTC)

Hawai Chappal
Let us start with a common ground i.e. 'chappal' which means any open footwear, which I think nobody will dispute with. Now the term Hawai, though literally the term Hawai Chappal would translate to Air Sandal but I think it is a bit illogical to think that in this context it has anything to do with air, as there is nothing to suggest that the flip flops had anything to do with air. So there are two alternatives. One less likely one that people visiting Hawaii and seeing this being worn at beaches called it Hawaii Chappal, meaning Chappal from Hawaii. There is a second possibility that one must consider and investigate that this sandal might have been made and marketed by Scott Hawaii company which gave it the name of Hawaii Chapal — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.185.139.138 (talk) 20:24, 4 February 2015 (UTC)


 * The term "Hawai chappal" has absolutely nothing to do with the US state of Hawaii. There, they are called flip-flops (the US term). "Hawai chappal" is an Indian/Hindu term, and a direct translation from Hindi. 96.33.109.85 (talk) 18:47, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Scott Hawai
I just saw someone's statement that in Hawaii they are called flip flops, but that does not rule out the possibility that an Indian saw them first time worn by someone in Hawaii and himself named them Hawai Chappal not bothering to know their Hawaiian name. This is a very common practice all over the word. If people see something associated with a country they just name it according to that regardless of what that thing is actually called in that country. For example "tamarind" is called "imli" in India, but when the Arabs saw it first time they called it "tamar Hindi" meaning "Indian date" and this name later changed to "tamarind" in English. Now if someone says that "tamarind" has nothing to do with India, because it is not called with that name in India, he will be absolutely wrong because the Arabs who saw this did not and possibly could not know its Indian name so they just called it "indian date" so the assumption that people called flip-flops "Hawaii Chappal" because their first association of this was with Hawaii and/or they were manufactured by Scott Hawaii may not be correct but rejecting it just on the basis that they are not called by that name in Hawaii is not fair. I agree that I have no proof for my assumption, but neither do the people who say that it is the translation of "air sandal". Why do you think think that Indians are so stupid that they would call something "air sandal" which has nothing to do with air

I do agree that the word "Hawai Chappal" in Hindi or Urdu does mean "air sandal" but the question still remains why would they call something "air sandal" which has nothing to do with air. The alternate explanation(s) must be thoroughly explored. I urge people in Pakistan and India to contact their relatives or acquaintances who are in their 80s and ask them why they used to call it "Hawai Chappal" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.178.192.172 (talk) 19:23, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

You can visit this site to look for alternate explanations http://www.quora.com/How-did-the-name-hawai-chappal-come-about — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.178.192.172 (talk) 04:43, 1 August 2015 (UTC)


 * The term "air sandal" is what you get if you go to google translate and type in "Hawai Chappal" in Hindi and ask to translate to English. I think they are using the word "air" to refer to something that is light, like a "MacBook Air". Flip-flops are often light shows that don't have much weight. WTF? (talk) 02:51, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Anatomy diagram needed
It would be interesting to have a diagram like File:Shoe-parts-en.svg for the flip-flop. Some examples:,. -- Beland (talk) 12:40, 25 May 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120621062559/http://www.biggie.co.nz/article/jandals_thongs_flip to http://www.biggie.co.nz/article/jandals_thongs_flip
 * Added tag to http://www.pecheblu.com/history.php
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150518100516/http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/oldnavy.html to http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/oldnavy.html
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120814051315/http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/health/study-comfortable-flip-flops-causing-painful-health-risks to http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/health/study-comfortable-flip-flops-causing-painful-health-risks

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 * The very word "Vietnamese", presumably, arose as a derivative of the name of the country Vietnam. It is believed that these shoes came to the world market from there. Accordingly, the name is associated with this eastern country. In Russia, the word "Vietnamese" is also used as a brand name - Vietnamki.
 * Slates are the colloquial name for rubber slippers. They can be not only flip flops, which are described above, but also ordinary rubber slippers. In the Soviet Union, a well-known manufacturer of these shoes was the Polymer plant in the city of Slantsy. Some buyers believed that the word “Slates” embossed on the soles of the slippers was the name of the shoe, and not the place where it was made. Further, the word entered the active vocabulary and became a synonym for the word "slippers". 37.54.230.242 (talk) 23:34, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

Why the non-English names?
This is English language Wikipedia. The second paragraph of the Etymology section is mostly a list of names for flip-flops in some languages other than English (but obviously not all). Why? What's the point? HiLo48 (talk) 00:48, 5 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I was wondering exactly the same thing. I'm in favour of removing this coatrack. Meters (talk) 06:49, 5 April 2020 (UTC)

Somebody just added yet another non-English name. I removed it and asked the editor to come here. My next move will be to delete all of them. HiLo48 (talk) 09:49, 14 April 2022 (UTC)

Better quality image?
The current picture at File:Flip_flops.png is not ideal in many ways (low resolution, blurry and having two black lines at the top and the bottom of the image. According to File usage information, it is only used in the English Wikipedia while the article exists in 40 languages.  I propose that it should be replaced by an existing image on Commons that is better in quality.
 * 1) My first attempt was File:Black_Flip_Flops.jpg (Revision as of 06:23, 6 April 2020).  This was reverted by HiLo48 with reason: "It's important to show that there is nothing at the back of the foot holding the flip-flop in place." (Revision as of 06:45, 6 April 2020)
 * 2) Taking into account the comments from HiLo48, my second attempt was File:Man's_Feet.jpg which is used in three other Wikipedias. (Revision as of 07:18, 6 April 2020).  This was reverted by HiLo48 with reason: "That's no better than edit warring. Please take it to the Talk page."
 * 3) If you see that the current image is inferior in quality and wish to address it, please propose/discuss/upload a new photo.  I am ok with any of the previous photos for the article or any new photos provided that the quality issues are addressed.


 * --Taweetham (talk) 04:51, 7 April 2020 (UTC) last three images were added to earlier post after the fact by Taweetham. Moved here for clarity by Meters
 * It's not a matter of taking umbrage. It's simply confusing when someone adds material to a post that has already been replied to. It's difficult to follow, and, as pointed out by  HiLo48, the thread replies lose context. You've done it in at least three places, and you have not fixed the problem even though it has been pointed out  to you several times. I will refactor your addition to make it clear what was in the post when it was replied to. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Meters (talk • contribs) 05:01, April 7, 2020 (UTC)
 * We don't need to look at and discuss eight years of previous images., or worry about which ones are used in other Wikipedias. Just tell us which one you think is an improvement over the current image for this article. Most of the other images are simply not good images to use. There is not point in looking at bad pictures, or ones that do not show that the heel is free.  I agree that we should not use a simple flipflop rather than a fancy one, so my choice would be the current image or one of the two that preceded it (2017-2018, or 2019). Meters (talk) 05:40, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I believe that the change from previous one (~2019) to the current one (introduced in the Revision as of 21:55, 10 December 2019 by Mpopp921) is a significant drop in quality. I am ok with the ~2019 version.  However, if there is a preference to have a foot or feet in the picture too, the photo by Dami96 20 August 2012, 09:13:39 (the first one the gallery above) will do just fine.  The other proposal (the photo by Jan Polák 21 March 2014, 17:01) will require cropping and rotation. --Taweetham (talk) 05:57, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Please help comment on the choice. I am also ok for you to proceed further with an edit to replace the current one with previous versions (2017-2018, 2019) or any high-quality photo. --Taweetham (talk) 13:06, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Why the rush? As I said above, I saw nothing wrong with the current image. You cannot force someone to play your game. HiLo48 (talk) 21:59, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I feel this image is a better replacement: Women_wearing_flip-flops.jpg — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4hrue2kd83f (talk • contribs) 05:07, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't. It's obviously cluttered, with 12 feet rather than 2. HiLo48 (talk) 05:16, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Agreed. It does not add anything that we don't have in the image of a single pair. In fact, we actually lose the illustration of the open heel since none of the 12 heels in the proposed image are showing. Meters (talk) 05:43, 16 May 2020 (UTC)

Lead image
I agree with user:Crazycomputers' comment that File:Flip flops.jpg is not an improvement over the existing image File:2010-07-10-gdansk-by-RalfR-087.jpg. The new image is simply not a good quality image. Please discuss the proposed change rather than continuing to make the edit. Meters (talk) 05:36, 5 July 2021 (UTC)


 * Pinging --Chris (talk) 06:11, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

Popular culture
Added this section David notMD (talk) 12:54, 19 February 2023 (UTC)

Revised health section...
...and removed some non-relevant refs. David notMD (talk) 03:51, 21 February 2023 (UTC)

All refs checked...
...and several removed. David notMD (talk) 12:10, 21 February 2023 (UTC)