Zori Sandals: Hawaiian Slippahs

Hawaiian gifts

Zori Sandals: Hawaiian Slippahs

In Hawaii, the locals call their footwear slippers -- or slippahs. If you can't bring yourself to say "slipper" without thinking of fuzzy shoes you wear around the house and smirking, you might try saying "zori" instead. You don't hear it used much anymore, but there are still plenty of old-timers who use it interchangeably with "slipper".

"Zori" is also the name for a traditional Japanese form of woven footwear, which along with the cloglike wooden geta are the ancestors of today's mass-produced slipper. The first waves of Japanese contract plantation workers literally walked off the boat in their zori and geta.

Locals Mele Sandals

Unlike Western footwear, neither zori nor geta have a left and right foot. There's no difference at all between the two, even in the strap placement. They're identical.

Today every shoe company seems to have its own line of slippers. There are blinged-out hoochie-mama slippers, no-frills frumpy old man slippers, red-yellow-green Rastafari-themed slippers and tiny little baby slippers for wearers too young to even walk. There are slippers with high heels, heel wells, arch support and antibacterial foot beds. There are slippers that promise to tone your legs or perform reflexology on your feet, slippers made from yoga mats or beer koozies, slippers that are biodegradable. There are slippers with Astroturf insolds and slippers with strange things in the soles, like air cushions, bottle openers, money compartments, whisky flasks, etc. There are brand-name slippers and no-name slippers. But in the whole mind-boggling line of slippers, there is only one slipper that is called a "slippah" -- those that Hawaiians wear -- and you can get yours from KTC Hawaiian.

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Mahalo for reading. Please share the Aloha Spirit and do something nice for someone today. We welcome your comments and feedback. This blog is brought to you by Kapo Trading Company -- with over 3000 fun, unique and authentic Hawaiian items, we deliver Hawaii to you!

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