Hari Mari, the winner of the 2018 Flip Flop Daily Flip Flop of The Year award, has partnered with upscale country club inspired apparel brand, Peter Millar, to create a stunning new flip flop.
The magic begins with the box. Constructed of a dark blue high gloss cardboard printed with the words “Hari Mari x Peter Millar” in white over an image of an old brick building – is it a factory, a school, or a whiskey distillery?
The box could easily be assumed to contain a bottle of a fine 18-year-old single malt scotch.
These are what a flip flop can be without abandoning their roots
A discrete hinged flap, held in place by an invisible magnetic strip, provides enough hold to keep the box closed and enough give to readily release with a gentle pull, runs the length of the box. Once unlatched the box opens like a book to reveal the flip flops.
One displayed in each half of the box, like a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle bourbon secreted away inside a hollowed out book. There is no other flip flop unpacking experience that even comes close to this.
Tucked behind the right flip flop is a tan canvas drawstring bag printed with the Hari Mari x Peter Millar logos. It is the sort of bag expected with a pair of Magnanni handmade Italian dress shoes, a clue that these are no ordinary flip flops.
Behind the left shoe is stashed a key chain made with a fabric lanyard of the same pattern and woven cloth as the strap of the flip flops, attached to a hefty chrome plated bottle opener engraved with the Peter Millar logo.
A reminder that though these may not be ordinary flip flops, they are still flip flops all the same. This may also be a subtle message to Reef to say that the bottle opener belongs in your pocket and not on the bottom of your shoe.
Hari Mari’s Attention to quality and detail are unmatched.
Once again, Hari Mari has created a flip flop that is in a league of its own yet as approachable and unpretentious as Uncle Jim sitting out front in his lawn chair in his tank top and shorts on a hot summer’s day with a six pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon in a Styrofoam cooler beside him.
They provide a glimpse of what at a flip flop dreams a flip flop could be, like the ugly duckling that was really a swan all along.
These are what a flip flop can be without losing their sense of self and abandoning their roots.
The footbed is made from premium US made Horween leather which is downy soft and durable.
Hari Mari could have tried to disguise these premium flip flops as a pair of snooty designer flip flops by making the straps from some obscure material such as ostrich skin, alligator hide, or unicorn leather; but to do so would go against all that they stand for.
Instead, the strap is made of woven cloth and given a unique yet tasteful pattern that could be equally at home in a Beverly Hills country club or a Dallas trailer park.
This is meant in the highest sense of trailer park and representing the reality of the fabric of those who do honest work, have close family ties and make up the fabric of America. Because of this, they are more real than most of what is found at a country club.
Hari Mari’s Attention to quality and detail are unmatched.The fit is perfect on sizes below a men’s size 14 (the toe portion is a bit distorted on bigger sizes and tends to catch on the ground mid-stride) and the comfort is in a league of its own.
These are meant to fade into your life as it is and become an extension of your style.
