Havaianas

Havaianas and Threadless Debut Six Designs on Flip-Flops, T's

Havaianas, the amazingly popular and remarkably comfortable flip-flop line from Brazil, unveiled in NYC on July 8 the winning designs that came out of the first flip-flop design contest, held in partnership with Threadless.com, the online community-based T-shirt company. Six pairs of flip-flops and six matching T's debuted on Havaianas's website and were launched nationwide on July 12.

Democratic design has been gaining force in the fashion world as companies are "crowd sourcing" and allowing the general public to be part of the artistic process. Havaianas wanted to involve its consumers and fans in this inventive development by hosting the contest in March. The "Threadless Loves Havaianas" design competition was Threadless's first foray into the accessories category and the site's first design challenge outside of T's.

The site received more than 600 design submissions from contestants around the world. Artists Farhan Hassan from Singapore and Alvaro Arteaga Sabaini from Chile drew the highest number of votes and were named the winners. They joined the existing designs by Josh Perkins from Arizona, Jess Fink from New York, Ross Zietz from Chicago, and Emmy Cicierega from Massachusetts to form the collection.

The flip-flops will be sold exclusively on the Havaianas website for $28 each. Threadless.com will produce and sell T's featuring the six winning designs for $18-$20.

Above is the " Royal Wave" design. Check out the gallery for the full collection!

Gallery: Havaianas and Threadless Design Contest Winners

Tags: design contest finalists, flip flops, flip-flops, Havaianas, t shirts, threadless, Ts

Conservation International's Seas of Hope Bash

by Ariston Anderson (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Events, Charity, Green, Big Givers

As BP's latest stumble over stopping the flow of upwards of 200,000 gallons of oil into our oceans reminds us, we don't need an excuse to start protecting our marine ecosystem now. While oil officials volleyed the blame back and forth, in another corner of the world, at New York's Museum of Natural History, Conversation International offered a new kind of hope, this past Thursday at their Seas of Hope Celebration gala.

Under the infamous blue whale hanging from the Museum's ceiling, New York revelers pooled together to offer a new kind of solution, donating toward Conservation International's mission of empowering local communities to care for nature and humanity. After an address from JP MorganChase CEO Jamie Dimon on the role of finance in sustainable growth, and an overwhelmingly successful fundraising appeal for CI's Protect an Acre program, guests retreated to the gallery halls for an after party sponsored by Havaianas.

The quintessential Brazilian brand teamed up with CI to protect the country's Albrolhos region, an area on the South Atlantic that contains some of the world's richest coral reefs. Albrolhos serves as breeding ground to the Southern humpback whale population, with nearly 10,000 members, and also represents several species of corals, mollusks and fish that are exclusive to the area.

Gallery: Conservation International and Havaiana's Seas of Hope Celebration