From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sandals are an open type of footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps or thongs passing over the instep and around the ankle. While the distinction between sandals and other types of footwear can sometimes be blurry (as in the case of huaraches—the woven leather footwear seen in Mexico), the common understanding is that a sandal reveals most or all of the foot (especially the toes) to view. People may choose to wear sandals for several reasons, among them economy (sandals tend to require less material than shoes), comfort in warm weather, and (especially for women) for reasons of fashion and attractiveness.

Usually, sandals are worn in warmer climates or during warmer parts of the year, because feet stay cool and dry. The chances of getting a fungal infection on your feet (athlete's foot) is lower than with wearing an enclosed shoe, and wearing sandals may be part of treatment for a fungal foot infection.

Among the many kinds of sandals are:

• clog, heavy, having a thick, typically wooden sole

• patten, often with a wooden sole or metal device to elevate the foot and increase the wearer's height or aid in walking in mud

• espadrille, flat, usually having a fabric upper and a flexible sole, often of rope

• foothold, light rubber, with only a strap around the heel — called also tip

• flip-flop, rubber, loosely fastened to the foot by means of a thong between the toes -- also called thong

• huarache, low-heeled, often sling-backed and having an upper made of interwoven leather thongs

• Mary Jane, low-heeled, broad-toed, of patent leather, with a single-buckle ankle strap for wear especially by young girls

• T-strap, having a T-shaped part formed by a strap rising from the throat over the instep and either fastening to an ankle strap or dividing at the top to form an ankle strap

• zori, flat and thonged, usually made of straw, cloth, leather, or rubber

• Grecian sandal, consisting of a sole attached to the foot by an arrangement of interlaced straps crossing the toes and instep, and fastening around the ankle

• Roman sandal, on which the vamp is composed of a series of buckled straps equally spaced

• caliga, a heavy-soled Roman military shoe or sandal worn by all ranks up to and including centurions

• tatbeb, ancient Egyptian

A sandal may have a sole made from rope (espadrilles), rubber, leather, wood (clogs or geta) or tatami (as in zori). It may be held to the foot by a narrow thong passing between the first and second toe, or by a strap or lace, variously called a latchet, sabot strap or sandal, that passes over the arch of the foot or around the ankle. Sandaling material may be woven in elastic strips. A sandal may or may not have a heel strap. It may have no heel, a high heel, or anything in between.

Members of certain religious communities, called “barefoot orders”, wear only sandals on the feet. Sandals may also be part of pontifical attire.

It is said that the New Zealand expression "jandals" for rubber sandals often used at the beach and called "thongs" comes from the expression "Japanese sandals." This is derived from the shape of jandals being similar to the Japanese zori, basically a rubber sole piece held on to the foot by two cloth thongs extending from the inner and outer side of the foot to the gap between the big toe and the second toe. This construction for footwear used to be the norm in Japan before westernization of clothing, with geta (wooden sole raised with one or two horizontal wooden pieces and attached to the foot with cloth thongs), and waraji (sole woven from straw with straw or cloth thongs, and sometimes extra ties over the foot and around the leg, often used for traveling).

"Saltwater sandals" are/were a popular children's footwear, originally developed (by the Hoy Shoe Company of St. Louis, MO) in the 1940s as a way of coping with wartime leather shortages, as they were designed to be made largely from the scrap leather left over from making men's shoes. They are still made by the original manufacturer.

There is a new type of sandals that are gaining popularity that are known as Yoga sandals. They are sandals that have a thong between all the toes, not just the big toe and second toe. They were originally designed to help spread the toes for better balance during the practice of Yoga.

In the Mediterranean there are another kind of sandals, "albarcas" or "avarques" or "menorquinas" . It's a traditional footwear, it was first worn by farms workers, but over the years it has evolved to become an indispensable addition to summer clothing.

Barefoot sandals are popularly worn at beach weddings and various religious festivites and events. They typically include an anklet and a toe ring connected together across the front of the foot with beads such as crystals and pearls.

Barefoot sandals are worn primarily as jewellery rather than as footwear. The design implies that the wearer appears to be shod, but the soles of the feet remain bare. They are sometimes worn by barefooters in order to circumvent "No shoes, no service" policies.[1]

• Birkenstock
• Flip-flop
• Mules