Flip-flop crazy for five years
It was like entering Santa’s playshop, complete with stations where your favorite toys were being assembled right in front of your very eyes. Kids of all ages went around all corners of the hall, mouths agape as they chose from a bevy of soles, straps and embelishments. Once a year, all these peeps await their golden ticket for this unique event.
Nope, it’s not a scene from A Christmas Carol nor is it from WillyWonka, but close. This is the much-awaited do-it-yourself-flip-it-yourself pair customization event Make Your Own Havaianas 2010 (MYOH), now in its fifth year. Each year this event becomes bigger and better as more Pinoys discover the joys of personalizing their prized Havaianas possession.
I was lucky to be invited to assist the Havaianas aficionados indeciding on their customized pairs last April 26, a Monday, the last day of the MYOH 2010. I spent hours consulting on which sole, which strap and which embellishments to place on their particular piece. I’m proud to say that I have assembled a neat number of Havaianas pairs—and my customers all looked happy with our collaborative artworks. For my own pair, I selected the commemorative MYOH sole in white, with a hot pink strap and pins that corresponded to my first and last name on each side, à la Paul Smith footwear.
Mix And Match All You Can
I stayed at the Rockwell Tent till sunset, all amazed at how happy everyone was. Outside there were long lines of people who had to wait for their turn—some people had to be turned away, like in a club—as stocks were limited for this fashion-crazed pack of flip-flop-crazy peeps. Shop-all-you-want! Mix-and-match all-you-can! I had so much fun!
“Make Your Own Havaianas was specifically created to allow flip-flop lovers to express themselves through personally styled pairs.” said Anne Gonzalez, managing director of Havaianas Philippines. “For our fifth year, we wanted to innovate with fashionable, new, and stylish options.” So there were more colors and choices, even crystal-studded options. There were jelly, fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark straps, letter and crystal-studded pins, and commemorative soles and pins for the kids in the flip-flop candy store. The headcount? More than 8,000 happy Havainaticos spread over the five-day event, creating more than 10,000 pairs. Wow.
Other guest stylists, aside from myself, were Luis Manzano, Iza Calzado, Maxene Magalona, Drew Arellano, Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan, Brent Javier, Andi Manzano, Rovilson Fernandez and Tessa Prieto-Valdes.“The high-flying success of MYOH showed that people actually patronize customization and follow their own lead when it comes to style.” said Luanne Santiago, brand manager of Havaianas Philippines.
When it comes to indivdualty, Havaianas has got it personalized. With Your name on it.
Share your Make Your Own Havaianas story at www.havaianas philippines.com/myoh.
