Flopping and Flipping(a)|巴西人字拖热销全球

by Rebecca A. Say

From dirt roads to fancy avenues, flip-flops are everywhere.

It would be next to impossible to walk down the street in warm weather without seeing someone wearing a pair of flip-flops. Love them or hate them, they are a favorite footwear of the modern world. However, flip-flops are not a modern trend by any means. Their origins date back to the Stone Age. Early flip-flops were made of papyrus, straw, rawhide and other materials depending on the regions. In India, they were made out of wood. In China and Japan, rice straw was used. Designs varied as well, from between which toes the straps were attached to the lengths and crisscrossing of the straps. Some even lacked straps, having a simple toe knot instead. With flip-flops being worn for thousands of years, they have been witness to some of history's most important moments. One pair found in Europe is over 1,500 years old and are believed to have been worn in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus Christ.

The popularity of modern flip-flops had a lot of help from a Brazilian company in the early 1960s. Havaianas began producing and promoting flip-flops for everyday wear. The word havaianas means Hawaiian in Portuguese, but Brazil has now become just as famous of a place for flip-flops, if not more so. In the beginning, Havaianas' flip-flops came with a white sole and three color choices for the straps. They were sold in markets and became the staple footwear of poor communities. In fact, for some years they were given away by the government, along with rice and beans, as part of aid programs. In the 1990s, due to competition, Havaianas made a bold move and started promoting their flip-flops as fashion accessories by expanding color choices and targeting the middle and upper classes. The risk paid off.

巴西人字拖热销全球

从泥泞路到华丽大道，处处可见人足蹬人字拖。

当你在天气温暖时走在街上，几乎都一定看得到人脚一双人字拖。不管你喜不喜欢，人字拖已经是现代社会最受人喜爱的鞋子种类之一。然而，人字拖绝非只是现代的潮流时尚。它们的起源可以追溯至石器时代。早期人字拖的取材因区碱而有所不同，有纸草、稻草、生牛皮及其他材料。在印度，人字拖以木头制成。在中国及日本则用稻草。人字拖的设计也有所不同，从拖鞋带夹在哪两根脚趾头之间每双鞋不尽相同，到拖鞋带长度及其纵横交错的样式也都有所差异。有些人字拖甚至没拖鞋带，反而只靠简单的脚趾头绳结来支撑。人类穿着人字拖已有数千年的历史了，人字拖也见证了历史上一些最重要的时刻。一双在欧洲出土的人字拖已有 1 千 5 百多年的历史，一般认为那双人字拖是耶稣在世时期在耶路撒冷的人们所穿的。

1960年代早期，某家巴西公司对提升现代人字拖受欢迎的程度大有帮助。哈瓦仕公司开始制造并推广大众每日所穿的人字拖。havaianas这个字在葡萄牙语中的意思是『夏威夷式的』，不过巴西现在已经变成因人字拖而闻名的一个地方，就算没人字拖那么出名，也相去不远了。起初，哈瓦仕公司出产的人字拖有白色鞋底及 3 种不同的拖鞋带颜色可供选择。人字拖在市场上贩卖且成为了贫困小区的主要鞋款。事实上，人字拖多年来已经随着米、大豆被政府用来赠予他国，以作为援助计划的一部份。1990年代，由于市场竞争，哈瓦仕公司做了一项大胆的尝试，该公司藉由扩大颜色的选择及锁定中产及高级阶层，将人字拖推广成为流行配件。这样的风险最终获得了成效。