Origin of Teva Sandals

Teva, one of the leading sandal manufacturers in the market today, was founded and is owned by Mark Thatcher. When he was working in the Grand Canyon as a rafting guide, he saw that most of the boatmen there wore hiking or athletic shoes in the river and he himself used to wear flip flops or thongs.

There are difficulties in wearing both types of shoes in the water. Hiking or athletic shoes become very wet while water, because of which wearers get fungus and gravel on their feet. Flip flops and thongs get out of the feet of the wearer very easily when he runs, which is also a major drawback for people involved in water activities.

Mark Thatcher spent some time in designing a special sandal which had a nylon ankle strap for supporting the wearer’s feet but it was same as the shape of a thong. Fortunately, Velcro material was also invented at the same time when Thatcher was looking for a substitute for thongs. Velcro was used by him for binding the sandals with the foot of the wearer with a Velcro strap around the ankles. Once made this sample, he was aware that he did not have sufficient finances to start his own manufacturing process and thus, he needed to look for a manufacturer for his sandals.

In the first year of their production, he succeeded in selling only 200 pairs designed by him. This was because many people complained about the thong style straps of the shoes while some got blisters in between their 1st and 2nd toes due to the straps. In the following year, youngsters of America noticed these sandals as fashionable footwear and their sales increased over night.

In the same time, Mark Thatcher became partners with Deckers Corporation and finally, Deckers also achieved exclusive rights to Tevas along with their patents for basic design. They also received Tevas trademark as a brand name.

In the year 1988, Deckers re-designed the Tevas and developed a new system of strapping, producing the first model of the line named as Hurricane. This new system of strapping consisted of three parts: the heel strap, the toe post and side strap. The basic design of the Teva sandals manufactured today still follow the design of the Hurricane.

All the sandals manufactured by today provide ultimate comfort to the wearer and they do not cause problematic conditions for their feet also. The soles of these sandals are harder, thus providing better grip to the wearer’s feet, no matter he is walking on wet surfaces or in water.

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Posted: December 14th, 2009 under Shoes.
Tags: Fashion, fashions accessories, product review, Shoe, Shoes, shopping