An Unexpected Surprise

Remember the flip flops I received yesterday?  Another morning of, um, rest as I recovered from my illness gave me a chance to spend some time with them.  I already knew I could squeeze them onto my feet but what I didn't realize until today is that they're actually quite comfortable.  Imagine that.  Sure, they're flip flops, meaning they're a mess of thin straps that can be manipulated to a degree, but they're still about eight sizes too small for my feet, if the seller's claim of them being a size 9 is accurate.

In my pajama pants that did a fairly decent job of covering the majority of my feet, I wore them outside to get the mail, finding that the right one in particular has the structural rigidity of a wet noodle and likes to catch on the ground and bend under my foot as I walk.  I continued to wear them as I opened a few more packages containing shoes I'll be featuring in the future, then put them away before my shower.  More than ever, I want to buy the other pair the seller had originally offered me before disappearing.  I might get addicted to wearing these and will need another pair for when I inevitably destroy these.

My Collection: More Flip Flops of an Unknown Brand

Once again, it's been a while.  I really have to work on some form of consistency with this blog.  However, in my defense, it's been a busy week and I haven't had many alone moments at the house in which to photograph shoes in my collection and when I do, it's late at night and I can't count on the help of natural light to help in my photography sessions.  I see no point in posting lackluster photos that don't do the shoes any justice, just for the sake of making sure there is something new to post.  Quantity is the goal but quality is a must.

I'm not sure if I'm really sick enough to have taken the day off from work, but I did, and now I can use some of my time alone to catch up on a few things.  First is the breaking in of my Pleaser slingbacks.  Wow.  Two inches of heel height makes one hell of a difference!  It took me no time at all to get used to 3" heels but the 5" heels of these shoes make my feet wobble, not to mention hurt quite a bit as the weight of my body is forced into the balls of my feet, which in turn squeezes my toes into the pointy toe box.  It probably doesn't help that the heels are very narrow to the point where they could probably be defined as stilettos.  On the plus side, my calves are being stretched so much that I shouldn't wake up in the middle of the night with cramps for at least a few days, and being 6'3" tall in 5" heels gives me a feeling of power.

I still don't know what I'm going to do with these shoes.  Maybe I'll feel more comfortable using them for destructive purposes if I can get accustomed to having to balance myself on the tall, thin heels but right now I feel like one wrong move will send a heel snapping off the shoe, which will in turn leave me needing another pair.  This is by no means a cheap hobby!  But anyway, being home today allowed me to not have to rush to leave work and get to the mailbox before my wife gets home because I knew today was the day I'd be adding another pair of flip flops to my collection.

I have no idea of the brand name, as only the faint remnants of letters can be seen in the heel area.  The seller advertised them as a size 9 and I believe it, because they're just barely big enough to squeeze onto my feet for short periods of time (time on me feet is how I got the straps to maintain a shape long enough for me to take some photos.)  The seller claims to have another pair just like these and just about as worn so I'm hoping to make a deal for those.  Perhaps then I could have one pair to admire with my eyes and another pair to suffer under my feet.

As I've said in the past, flip flops can be boring, but can also be extremely enjoyable.  This pair is clearly an example of the latter.  From afar, they look as though they need a new coat of paint.  There's way too much wear here for a black Sharpie to repair!

The wear to the heel areas reveals the honeycomb-like structure sandwiched between the insoles and outsoles.  The insoles feel as though they're real leather but as I've stated in other posts, can never be quite sure.  Regardless, a good portion of the leather/faux leather has been worn off, revealing a cloth-like material below.  The white marks are the remains of the brand name that was once printed on the flip flops.  Any shoes CSIs out there willing to help with the identification of these poor things?

The front areas of the shoes are even worse.  Note the long thongs that slide between the big toe and the other four.  It's almost as if the thongs were designed to extend forward from where they attach to the insoles before rising up.  Or is it possible they stretched about three quarters of an inch?  Either way, the extra long thong is part of the reason why I can massage my feet into these flip flops, so I'm not complaining.

In some areas, the lining is so worn that the cloth-like material is also worn away, revealing the rubber of the outsole.  These flip flops did not have an easy life.  In addition to having been used a lot, it seems as if the wearer wasn't very careful with them, although that could be an assumption I want to make as I fantasize about what these went through.

The front of the right one is a total mess- frayed, with all the layers of material beginning to separate from one another.  Peeling it back provides a revealing look at the sandwich of rubber, cloth and even paper that comprises the construction of these flip flops.

The straps being stretched out beyond the shape of the outsoles and under the weight of the body left permanent indentations in the leather/faux leather.  A nice touch that I discovered only after spending some quality time with the shoes.  It pays to have quiet moments where they can be enjoyed with more than a passing glance.

The straps are decorated with countless colored pieces of plastic that remind me of sequins, except rectangular instead of round.  Many are still intact but many are also missing, having left behind traces of white thread that likely held them in place.  They seem to be firmly attached so it must have taken collisions with some pretty hard objects to work them loose.

Flipping the shoes over doesn't show a ton of wear on the bottoms of the outsoles.  They're worn smooth in some spots and the honeycomb-like rubber in the heels can once again, but other than that these flip flops took most of their beating on the other side.  Here's hoping that I can soon be adding their sisters to my collection.

My Collection: Flip Flops of an Unknown Brand

I wish I could be more descriptive but these flip flops are so trashed and abused, I can only make out one letter of the brand name that was once printed on the lining.  It begins with an S, so if anyone out there recognizes the style and knows anything, feel free to comment or drop me a line and I'll adjust this post accordingly.

In most cases, I find flip flops as unappealing as Crocs and goth boots.  More often that not, they're just pieces of rubber stamped into the shape of a foot and given a piece of plastic or cloth to make sure they remain in place, albeit barely.  With the exception of footprints which are inevitable because they're almost always worn barefoot, they hardly show any compelling signs of wear, and that's if they're worn long enough to show wear in the first place.  I'm sure most women start each summer with new pairs of flip flops and then toss them in the trash after Labor Day, and some seem to have a different pair for each outfit.

Well, most, but not all.  The woman who wore these flip flops either had them for quite a few summers, or spent just one beating the life out of them until there was practically nothing left to them.  Granted, they look like they cost a bit more than the typical dollar store special, so the fact that there's more to them than a few pieces of rubber and plastic means there's more to illustrate the trashing and abuse.

Flipping the flip flops upside down doesn't show anything unexpected.  The soft, rubbery, almost-spongy material that comprises the outsoles is worn smooth with a few dimples from little pebbles and other debris that got shoved into it, but there's little in the way of drama aside from the area under the big toe on the right one.

The left flip flop suffered the least, although that's still being kind.  The insole seems to have been a cork-like material over a layer of rubber that had some kind of flower-like decoration stamped into it.  Most of the cork is gone, probably having fallen off in little pieces over time.  What's left is cracked, smooth and horribly stained, likely from endless sweating in the heat.  The merciless wearer's little toe was doing a good job of making holes in both, and on this one was about an eighth of an inch from going completely through to the other side.

The area under the heel is compressed so much, the outer edges of the flip flop are curling up around it, and the faux leather strip covering the area where the insole attaches to the outsole is just about gone.  This wear pattern is more severe on the left one, leading me to believe she didn't shove her foot into this one as deep as she did on the right.  Either that, or her left foot was slightly larger than the right.

The front of the right shoe is completely destroyed.  The wearer's big toe caused the faux leather strip to tear apart, and she must have applied so much pressure while walking that the outsole is paper-thin.  Something tells me these flip flops might have been retired because the wearer's big toe was scraping along the ground as she walked since there's barely anything left in that spot.  The rubber material that was once underneath the cork lining is cracking where the strap connects to the insole, making me wonder how much longer it would have taken for the two to separate and render the flip flops useless.

I can't imagine how uncomfortable it became to keep these things in use.  Kudos to the wearer, whoever you are!

Even though shoes are inanimate objects, I often wonder what it's like to be them and put through this kind of suffering.  These flop flops lived through what seemed like an infinite string of days where the wearer recklessly shoved her feet under the thin, delicate straps, trapping them against a layer of sweat to flex relentlessly, the combination of everything breaking them apart from the inside out.  I wouldn't want to be those flip flops but I sure enjoy the aftermath.