Havaianas Unveils the Chosen Designs with Threadless.com in the First Ever Flip-Flop Design Challenge

New York, NY, July 8, 2010 – Havaianas, the world’s most stylish and comfortable flip-flop, has joined forces with Threadless.com, the online community-based t-shirt company, to create a collection of limited edition sandals for summer 2010. Launching nationwide on July 12th, Havaianas and Threadless will unveil six designs from original artwork submitted and voted on by the Threadless community.

The popular trend of crowdsourcing has been quickly gaining force in the fashion world as companies are allowing the general public to be part of the artistic process. Havaianas wanted to involve their consumers and loyal fans in this inventive development by hosting the challenge in March 2010. The “Threadless Loves Havaianas” design challenge was Threadless’ first foray into the accessories category and the site’s first ever design challenge outside of tees. The site received over 600 design submissions from designers around the world. Ultimately, artists, Farhan Hassan from Singapore and Alvaro Arteaga Sabaini from Chile drew the highest scores and had their designs printed onto flip flops. The two joined the existing Threadless designs by Josh Perkins from Arizona, Jess Fink from New York, Ross Zietz from Chicago and Emmy Cicierega from Massachusetts to form the complete limited edition collection.

James Anstey, Director of Marketing at Havaianas explains, “Threadless.com and Havaianas both value creativity, cutting edge design and easy going style making this a unique partnership. The variety of designs submitted was amazing, the final collection speaks for itself”. All six limited edition designs will be sold exclusively on the Havaianas website for $28. Threadless.com will also produce and sell t-shirts featuring the six designs for $18-20. In addition to having their artwork transformed into sandals, the two designers shared $10,000 in prizes.

About Havaianas:

Havaianas flip-flops are truly the best rubber flip-flops in the world. The ultra-high quality of Havaianas is due to a top secret rubber recipe that makes the flip-flops as soft as marshmallows. While there are many copy-cats in the marketplace, Havaianas fans know there is no substitute for authentic comfort and style. Havaianas are continuously showcased on fashion show runways around the world and can often be spotted at some of the world’s highest caliber events. An affordable luxury since 1962, every pair is still lovingly designed and manufactured in Brazil – offering hundreds of unique colors and patterns to fit your every style and need! www.us.havaianas.com

About Threadless.com:

We’re not your average t-shirt company. The designs on Threadless tees are sourced from an ongoing open-call for t-shirt submissions from a worldwide community of amazing artists and designers. Once submitted, our community of over 1 million members casts votes that help decide which designs become Threadless tees. Threadless began in 2000 as a hobby and has since become the poster child for the power of crowdsourcing: integrating the involvement of a passionate, authentic and highly active community into every aspect of our business. In other words, we’re all awesome together! Join the awesomeness at www.threadless.com.