The Summer of the Flip-Flop
Notes on The Row, foot fetishes, frat bros, and suits with sandals.
It’s been a decade since Cathy Horyn shrewdly observed that we’re living in a “post-trend universe,” nearly twenty years since Miranda Priestly gave her infamous cerulean speech explaining the top-down way trends used to filter through culture, and fifteen since Instagram launched—ultimately creating today’s chaotic sense that too many trends are happening all at once. So, it always feels especially impressive when a single thing—be it a broad aesthetic (quiet luxury) or a single item—actually manages to trend.
Enter the flip-flop.
I noticed the hum start this spring, when whispers about that flip-flop from The Row started to build. The Dune—with its textured rubber sole, cotton grosgrain strap, and available in three colors—costs just under $700 and sparked both paroxysms of pleasure and spirals of angst-ridden hand-wringing. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Vogue all breathlessly covered it. Is The Dune the ultimate emblem of late-stage capitalism, or an in-joke for the one percent?
From there the flip-flop—once the territory of frat bros and clueless tourists—quickly made inroads into style-minded circles. Jonathan Bailey wore The Row’s version on the red carpet while promoting the latest Jurassic Park flick, and I started noticing guys—cool guys—sporting them around town. It has its own $55 Amazon dupe. I was so influenced, I’ll admit, I bought a cheap pair of black rubber Havaianas ($14)—the first time I’ve worn flip-flops in... probably a decade? Their future as an it shoe was further cemented during the Spring 2026 men’s shows, which are winding down: Prada and Armani showed flip-flops in Milan, and Auralee and Vuitton followed suit in Paris.
“It’s an easy way to be sleazy—and if you’re a gay guy, they all want to see the toes,” says Bryant Simmons, who works in VIP sales at the brand Khaite. He bought The Row’s sandals in all three colors back in May. “Get a T-shirt, loose jeans, and then toes. I mean, you're asking for someone to ask for your number, you're asking for followers, you're asking to be on the Explore page, you know what I mean?”
Simmons should know: earlier this spring, he posted a photo of himself in his flip-flops (paired with a flannel from The Row and loose tan pants) and says he gained about 400 followers from it—including high-ranking comms execs at more than one major European labels. He likes his red pair best, thanks to the pop of color it provides—a kind of inverse Louboutin effect—and says he was impressed by their surprisingly sturdy construction details like a heavy-wearing sole beneath the rubber footbed.
“I think it’s part of this appetite for a lower silhouette,” says Renatto Balladares, a concept designer at Gap. He notes this aligns with a broader trend taking place over the past decade where footwear has slowly been slimming down—from bulky sneakers to loafers, to fisherman sandals, to minimalist sneakers, and now this. “It’s like you want your feet really close to the ground.”
Another factor? Y2K nostalgia. “It’s often paired with baggy cargo shorts or loose pants, which evokes early-2000s David Beckham or Carolyn Bessette in flip-flops and painter jeans,” Balladares says. “But I also like it when it’s styled in a more refined way—to add ease to something elevated. Like, I love a suiting pant with a flip-flop. I like the tension between something heavy and voluminous and something so minimal.”
I texted Jake Woolf who called this a year ago. Indeed, while The Row sandal has gotten a lot of traction, it also appeared on the runways of White Mountaineering, ERL, and Auralee (which also offers theirs at near $700 but has received no real blowback). I asked him why he thought this was happening. His reply: “2000s nostalgia mixed with a desire for a slow, relaxed lifestyle in our increasingly frenetic times?” Simmons agreed. “Things are serious, so people are just trying to find ease in their lives,” he said. “Work is intense, the economy is intense, the news is intense. It's like—can I just catch a break?”
Michael Fisher, a longtime trend forecaster, connects this to two macro-trends he’s seeing. First is “The Age of Average”—defined by “classic comforts, boldly boring basics, and ’90s-inspired styling.” Second is “Boredcore”—which he describes as “inclusive, relaxed, and authentic. It’s the stuff we actually want to wear, no matter how we’re labeled.” (He cites vintage J.Crew catalogs and Dawson’s Creek as key reference points.)
“Saying we’ve been bombarded with chaos and conflict for five years is an understatement, and it shows no signs of slowing down,” Fisher says. “We thought post-pandemic would bring a new Roaring Twenties—excess and formality—but consumers chose the opposite: fewer decisions, more basics. They’re exhausted and in no mood for fashion with a capital-F.”
To me, part of the flip-flop’s appeal is that it’s so ordinary. I love when someone takes something quotidian—or fashionably out-of-bounds—and resurrects it. Like what Miuccia Prada did with the barn coat a few seasons back. It’s not as easy as it looks: it takes timing, instinct, and a certain authority to shine a spotlight on something so plain. The Olsens nailed it. Phoebe Philo was a master of this too—remember her Céline-era Birkenstocks and Vans slip-ons? She’s why every straight bro wears Bostons today. Bless her. Oh, and guess what? She has a $950 leather and suede platform flip-flop available as part of her current footwear rotation.
Now that they’ve arrived, flip-flops feel inevitable. They’re sexy—a whale tail for the foot, really, so much so they’re often called thongs. They take a forbidden (and highly fetishized) body part (see: Rick Owens launching an OnlyFans for his feet) and put it on public display. (For what it’s worth, I posted a picture of my feet in those Havaianas and the replies were... well, y’all are sick.) It’s Barefoot Boy Summer, but without the staph infection.
They’re fun. A little trashy. Slightly tongue-in-cheek. They toe the line (sorry) between style and satire. When you see someone in flip-flops, you don’t know if they’re deep into the Olsen cinematic universe, obsessed with Auralee because it’s this underground cool brand—or if it’s just hot out and these were by the door.
There’s also the way they’re being worn now, styled less with pull-on shorts and a tee and more with slightly dressier outfits. Auralee and Armani paired them with suits on the runway while Simmons and Balladares wear them with elevated-casual layers. Balladares says it’s that sort of contrast that can make something so ordinary suddenly feel special or noteworthy—or at very least worth a second look.
Best of all, they’re easy—a word that came up again and again. Simmons likes that they’re laidback but noticeable. Balladares thinks they look especially cool when paired with something formal. (I tried to wear them with a suit at a wedding in L.A. last week and my friends vetoed it.) There are tons of options: the Havaianas I mentioned, luxury versions from Brunello Cucinelli and Saint Laurent. There’s always Rainbow, the ultimate frat-boy classic.
“It’s a funny thing seeing them come back,” says Balladares, who is currently wearing a vintage Prada pair he found on eBay. “And this is what makes millennials seem old, because we lived through the era of the ‘baggy plaid cargo and the flip-flop bro’ so the idea of it coming back seems gross. But that just means you're old because you're perception of it is jaded. You should always be open-minded to anything that was cringe before. You should always re-accept it through a modern lens. Like, nobody gives a fuck. It's a new day and they're wearing them differently now.”
Now that the spring 2026 shows are over, sandals—flip-flops in particular—seem to be cemented as the footwear of choice for at least a few years. We’ll see. I could see this being a trend that burns bright but fast. I already have a bit of FFF (flip-flop fatigue) myself, mostly because they kinda hurt that spot between my big and middle toe. And yet, Balladares sent me a photo the other day of himself wearing the latest sandal from The Row—the Dune, but with an ankle wrap. He wore it with baggy cargos and a tabi sock. I was smitten. So maybe don’t count them out just yet?
Matthew tho 🥰