Rich Couples

Flip-flops have matured from their surfer roots to become acceptable footwear not just on the beach, but also in everyday life. With sandals showing up everywhere from the office to weddings, footwear companies have had to find ways to differentiate their thongs from the rest. Think about brands like Birkenstock. Just hearing that name makes people automatically envision the famous style.

For Rainbow Sandals founder and president Jay R. Longley, Jr., he’s been working at differentiating his company for more than 30 years. Based in San Clemente, California, Longley has grown Rainbow Sandals into a brand notorious for quality and a long lifespan. In fact, Longley frames and hangs 20-year-old Rainbow sandals people have sent back to him to prove how long they’ve lasted.

Longley didn’t originally intend to build a multimillion-dollar brand; he just wanted to create a flip-flop that would last longer than one summer. So, in 1974, he took out his sewing machine and got to work. Once he perfected the sandal, the next logical step would have been to launch a marketing campaign. But he quickly found out he didn’t need to. To this day, word-of-mouth has been the company’s best form of marketing. “What people saw as a functional item became fashionable,” says Longley.

In 2006, Rainbow Sandals brought in approximately $40 million and projects an estimated $50 million in sales this year. But Longley still isn’t content. The company is now focusing its efforts on the female sandal shopper by introducing what Longley calls bling-bling crystal-embedded sandals retailing for about $80 and more basic thongs with colored leather retailing for $44 to $48. Longley says the brand isn’t abandoning its roots, but is playing around with some fun, unique concepts to keep the brand current.

web site: Rainbow Sandals
source Entrepreneur