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The $18,000 flip-flops

For those who really love their feet

The $18,000 flip-flops
Danielle de Wolfe
11 August 2011

For most people, flip-flops are the least sacred member of the footwear family.

Usually picked up for a small amount and worn around the beach, or Tesco if you're feeling particularly incapable, they're not deserving of much reverence.

Los Angeles artist David Palmer seems to think differently. Having hand-painted an extra special pair of Chipkos flops, he's now charging $18,000 (£11,125) for a pair. In other words around 3,000 times what you'd usually spend.

Thankfully, it's not for shameless publicity and ruthless greed but it's for a good cause and all that too. If you buy the one-of-a-kind pair, the proceeds will be used to help protect 100,000 square feet of endangered rainforest land.

Which sort of begs the question, why not just use the money for that in the first place? This question is worth pondering while staring at the interestingly designed flip-flops.

You can pretend to buy a pair here.