No offense but Rainbow sandals are made in San Clemente California and are the best made sandals one can buy. Like no joke, they are as close to wearing a fully supported shoe as possible for a toe thong sandal. They will last like a high quality shoe, and far longer than the average tennis shoe or sneaker does now. I wore a pair daily for nearly ten years straight as my main shoes. Rainbow sandals have always been the educated consumer’s go-to choice and are far cheaper than the junk most people buy ten times over in the same span of time.
It is not that Chinese friends are unable to make the exact same quality or better than Rainbow’s. We are all the same humans. The only differences between all of us emerge from spurious nonsense of upper societal castes. Dichotomous logic implies idiocy or malevolence from both canaille or interlocutor. The Chinese are tooled to make the junk (mostly) companies and occasionally consumers-directly demand in any range of quality or compromise without concern about the ethics of the company or motivations of the individual. In other words, the Chinese do not judge you for being a stupid miser or unethical hack with your money; because the money for goods is the only relevant transaction. If you want to be exploited or buy disposable junk, those are your ethics and problem. Those that spin this narrative in a racist light are criminals. I’m just a redneck white boy from Alabama, so what do I know. Think for yourself. Do not follow the piper’s music.
FYI, most of their sandals are made in China now because of their limited production capacity.
You have to look for the “USA” mark in the middle of the sole at their factory store for their locally made sandals. Online orders don’t allow you to specify a country of origin.
In my experience running a very active pro eBay store, all you need to do is leave a note if the ordering system has such an implementation. Like even in general, a kind note with an order is such a rare pleasantry when a person sees a couple dozen orders a day and is trying their best to pack it well and keep everything sorted to send the right thing to the right place, that any kind gesture even with a request is a major positive against the monotony. It depends on who is filling orders and all. Like I ran the whole eBay thing solo, so logistics was a joke job title. Some dissonant kid will be very different in perspective. The few times I got any such kind note and request, I went out of my way in packing the item in a way that opened with presentation quality that also presented my note in reply thanking them. Implementing feature details like selecting a feature that may or may not be available at the time is too difficult to manage in the real world at this scale.
I’m sad to hear they are not doing all local production. I haven’t been able to wear flip flops since my broken neck and back. I haven’t been there in over a decade since, but pass by the location often. My big crash was on Coast Highway a half mile from there.
Sorry about your injury. It’s a bummer to lose out on something that brought joy.
I’ve talked with the shop folks about checkout notes. They said they can try to pick out but cannot guarantee it. For the most part it’s highschool/college kids at the front desk and will grab the first sandal for an ordered SKU.
It’s further complicated by their logistics. The last time I was in the shop there was only one pair of sandals in the model and size I wanted, and the source models were all mixed together (no made-in USA wall; that wall was a new special release). If I wanted a different color, then I’d have to buy a foreign made sandal. The quality is still great, but I like to support locals if at all feasible.
My trick is to make a trip to the factory store. I have family in socal and the sandals last so long that I just buy a spare pair to keep in my closet once every year or two. More hassle, but it comes with the benefit of great beaches and downtowns. ;)
All that said, they do maximize their US production. The reason they’re limited in capacity is the glue that’s used. VOCs in the glue are restricted in quantity and hence they can only make so many sandals a day before they run out of their daily limit of glue. The family made a choice to expand their brand and the only way to do that was to build another factory. China makes sense in this context.
Do they also sell vegan shoes/sandals? Not sure I’d afford shipping to Germany, but if I tried to buy some, I couldn’t since all of them seem to be made of leather
It is a rather small and very old family business. They only make and sell the one product, that I am aware of. The whole thing is in a building smaller than a typical low income house for a family of 4.
No offense but Rainbow sandals are made in San Clemente California and are the best made sandals one can buy. Like no joke, they are as close to wearing a fully supported shoe as possible for a toe thong sandal. They will last like a high quality shoe, and far longer than the average tennis shoe or sneaker does now. I wore a pair daily for nearly ten years straight as my main shoes. Rainbow sandals have always been the educated consumer’s go-to choice and are far cheaper than the junk most people buy ten times over in the same span of time.
It is not that Chinese friends are unable to make the exact same quality or better than Rainbow’s. We are all the same humans. The only differences between all of us emerge from spurious nonsense of upper societal castes. Dichotomous logic implies idiocy or malevolence from both canaille or interlocutor. The Chinese are tooled to make the junk (mostly) companies and occasionally consumers-directly demand in any range of quality or compromise without concern about the ethics of the company or motivations of the individual. In other words, the Chinese do not judge you for being a stupid miser or unethical hack with your money; because the money for goods is the only relevant transaction. If you want to be exploited or buy disposable junk, those are your ethics and problem. Those that spin this narrative in a racist light are criminals. I’m just a redneck white boy from Alabama, so what do I know. Think for yourself. Do not follow the piper’s music.
( the joke is not that these are low quality, but they are assembled wrong; Chinese embassy is calling Americans dumb )
Holy shit, my brain didn’t see it. Thought it was a flip flopper joke.
deleted by creator
I love my Rainbows. They’re great.
FYI, most of their sandals are made in China now because of their limited production capacity.
You have to look for the “USA” mark in the middle of the sole at their factory store for their locally made sandals. Online orders don’t allow you to specify a country of origin.
In my experience running a very active pro eBay store, all you need to do is leave a note if the ordering system has such an implementation. Like even in general, a kind note with an order is such a rare pleasantry when a person sees a couple dozen orders a day and is trying their best to pack it well and keep everything sorted to send the right thing to the right place, that any kind gesture even with a request is a major positive against the monotony. It depends on who is filling orders and all. Like I ran the whole eBay thing solo, so logistics was a joke job title. Some dissonant kid will be very different in perspective. The few times I got any such kind note and request, I went out of my way in packing the item in a way that opened with presentation quality that also presented my note in reply thanking them. Implementing feature details like selecting a feature that may or may not be available at the time is too difficult to manage in the real world at this scale.
I’m sad to hear they are not doing all local production. I haven’t been able to wear flip flops since my broken neck and back. I haven’t been there in over a decade since, but pass by the location often. My big crash was on Coast Highway a half mile from there.
Sorry about your injury. It’s a bummer to lose out on something that brought joy.
I’ve talked with the shop folks about checkout notes. They said they can try to pick out but cannot guarantee it. For the most part it’s highschool/college kids at the front desk and will grab the first sandal for an ordered SKU.
It’s further complicated by their logistics. The last time I was in the shop there was only one pair of sandals in the model and size I wanted, and the source models were all mixed together (no made-in USA wall; that wall was a new special release). If I wanted a different color, then I’d have to buy a foreign made sandal. The quality is still great, but I like to support locals if at all feasible.
My trick is to make a trip to the factory store. I have family in socal and the sandals last so long that I just buy a spare pair to keep in my closet once every year or two. More hassle, but it comes with the benefit of great beaches and downtowns. ;)
All that said, they do maximize their US production. The reason they’re limited in capacity is the glue that’s used. VOCs in the glue are restricted in quantity and hence they can only make so many sandals a day before they run out of their daily limit of glue. The family made a choice to expand their brand and the only way to do that was to build another factory. China makes sense in this context.
Do they also sell vegan shoes/sandals? Not sure I’d afford shipping to Germany, but if I tried to buy some, I couldn’t since all of them seem to be made of leather
It is a rather small and very old family business. They only make and sell the one product, that I am aware of. The whole thing is in a building smaller than a typical low income house for a family of 4.
Gotcha, thanks
Would you say I’m a level seven susceptible?