Rainbow Sandals Inc. was established in 1974 in Laguna Beach, California by Jay "Sparky" Longley and is currently based out of San Clemente, California. The company specializes in men's and women's leather, hemp, and rubber flip-flops.
When Longley first started making sandals, he was assembling 15 pairs per day out of leather and Malaysian rubber in the garage of his Laguna Beach home.[1] He relocated to San Clemente in 1975 and began manufacturing 1,200 pairs of sandals a day. Since 2002, the majority of the sandals have been produced by a factory that houses over 3,000 workers in China.
Rainbow sandals are unisex sandals that were only sold and distributed all over California before it became a popular demand. Now, the availability has spread all throughout the world and as far as Australia. Rainbow sandals are generally regarded as high-end flip-flops (as opposed to ordinary foam rubber ones that usually hurt your feet with long wear) due to their construction with leather, ranging in price from $16 - $90. A regular pair usually cost about 50 dollars, depending on the tax. The high end Rainbow Sandals are decorated with diamond crystals on both of the straps for the pleasure of owning a pair of "pretty" sandals. Rainbow Sandals are available online and at department and specialty stores nationwide, the original factory store in San Clemente, and two company-owned retail stores in New York City and Los Angeles.
Rainbow Sandals also offers many different types of footwear for a wide range of prices as low as $16 SaleItems. The product offerings have also increased from just sandals to include shoes and boots. Leather is not the only material available; for the environmentally minded there is also a line of hemp products. For those that are opposed to natural animal hides, they offer synthetic materials as an alternative.
Recent additions to the product offerings include a line of college branded sandals and shoes. Some colleges included in these products include:
North Carolina State
University of North Carolina Wilmington
University of Southern California
Texas A & M
University of California LA
University of Florida
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Rainbow Sandals is very active in supporting the beach lifestyle and preserving the oceans. Rainbow Sandals has sponsored numerous Standup Paddling (SUP) Events in both Hawaii and Southern California. Dubbed the "Battle of the Pud", these events provide a showcase for manufacturers and for competitors to further the sport of Standup paddling.
On May 14th and 15th of 2011 the Battle of the Paddle will once again be held at the Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Ft. De Russy Beach Park, HI.