14 Dec 09 Teva sandals: A brief history

Teva is one of the most famous sandal manufacturing companies in the industry today and it was founded and owned by Mark Thatcher. While working in the Grand Canyon as rafting guide, Thatcher spotted that most of the boatmen used to wear hiking or athletic shoes while in the river and he himself wore thongs or flip flops.

There are disadvantages of wearing both kinds of shoes in water. Athletic shoes or hiking shoes get too wet, leading to gravel and fungus on the wearer's feet while flip flops or thongs can get out of the wearer's feet very easily while running.

Mark Thatcher decided to spend some time to design a sandal which was in the shape of a thong but had a nylon ankle strap to support the foot of the wearer. It was fortunate that Velcro material came up almost the same time when Thatcher was searching for an alternative to thongs. He used Velcro to bind the sandal with the wearer's foot with a strap of Velcro around the ankle. With this sample in hand, he knew that he did not have financial resources to start manufacturing these sandals on his own and that he needed to find a manufacturer.

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.

During this period only, Mark Thatcher signed partnership with Deckers Corporation which finally got exclusive rights for the Tevas along with their patent for the basic designs. Deckers also got Tevas trademark as their 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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