The third Friday in June is National Flip Flop Day every year. In 2017, the day is recognized on June 16, but some years the date is different because it is the day and not the date that is being recognized.
People have posted pictures of themselves wearing the footwear on Twitter by using #NationalFlipFlopDay. Customers are even given freebies if they wear them to certain establishments on Friday.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe started the trend in 2007 when the establishment celebrated being in business for ten years. Customers who wore flip flops in their cafes around the world were given a free Jetty Punch Smoothie. Customers can write their names on a paper replica and give a $1 donation. The money is sent to Camp Sunshine in Casco, Maine so sick children and their families can attend free year-round. According to reports, $1 million was sent in 2014 to Camp Sunshine from people wearing flip flops. In the last ten years, the cafe has raised about $3.7 million.
Interesting things about the footwear
The simple rubber footwear with a band between the big toe and the other toes has been around a long time. Records document the shoes have been around as early as 1500 BC when the Egyptians wore them. However, they were not called flip flops until the 1960s. In some places, they were called flip flaps.
Flip flops are popular mostly in the summer when people let their feet breathe. The footwear is worn by men, women, and children. Today, the shoes are not limited to the plain one-colored ones. Now, they come in every color and design imaginable.
It costs very little to make flip flops, and they cost very little to buy. However, the sales could amount to billions of dollars.
Flip flops are so popular that there are vending machines that sell them to people who don't have their own at the beach where they are needed the most on the hot sand.
While it is not illegal to drive while wearing flip flops, it does take a little longer for a person to get his foot from the gas pedal to the brakes and from the brakes to the gas pedal when wearing flip flops.
In preparation for Flip Flop Day, Old Navy had a sale on flip flops for $3.50 on Wednesday, June 14.
Fish Flops
A teenager from Galveston, Texas made millions from her footwear design. In 2013, when she was only 15 years old, Madison Robinson was successful with her company, Fish Flops. You can tell from the name of her company that the shoes are made with pictures of various fish on them. Since she has been in business, Madison has donated over 20,000 pairs of her creations to different charities around the world, including in Costa Rica and Africa.