I bought my black classic havaianas when I was in Brazil in 2008. I remember it felt wrong to pay almost 5€ for a pair of flip flops when I knew I could get a pair for one fifth of that, but I really liked how simple they were and everything else seemed to either have colourful glitter on it or look like bad havaiana copies.

So I bought the original ones. And then I walked. Through Brazil. Through Bolivia and all the way to Lima in Peru. And when I was working at the World Expo in Spain some months later I had to mark the soles with nail polish because a girl I was living with had a pair looking almost the same.. Later I wore them in the South of China where it wasn’t too cold. And they officially survived all of 2008.

The next year they went with me for a month around the Balkans and in 2010 I walked Israel and Palestine.. damn, they even survived dusty and hot India.

2011 was easy. Citybrowsing and beach hangout in Barcelona followed by being only the “going to the shower” footwear here in Copenhagen. And still, they look just as they did the day I bought them, you really can’t see how much they have had to endure except for some sand in between the letters in the logo, and some nailpolish on the soles.

Now it’s 2012 with some serious adventure walking coming up, the havaianas are a mandatory part of my luggage – and I can’t believe I ever hesitated.