Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Flip-flop etiquette

106 replies

VikingVagine · 08/04/2012 18:31

Where do you feel it is acceptable to wear flip flops? Are they proper shoes or slippers?

DH made this face [buhmm] at me when I decided to weary flip flops to the supermarket the other day (it was sunny, I was wearing a skirt and light jacket). He said I might as well have gone in my PJs.

OP posts:
featherbag · 08/04/2012 21:58

I wore sequined flip-flops for DH's best mate's wedding at which DH was best man, a no-one batted an eyelid as I was pregnant and the size of the moon

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 08/04/2012 22:04

I winced at the thought of flip-flops in a supermarket in case some careless divvy with a trolley ran over my feet -ouch.

I've got plastic Birkies but they were bought to get me from apartment to pool at Butlins. And I'll take them on holiday this year, but I wouldn't wear them IRL.

I will definately wear them when I go to the toilets (and soak overnight in Jeyes Fluid)

marriedinwhite · 08/04/2012 22:14

They are for the beach. They certainly are not for London pavements, shops or work. They are also, ime, the most excruciatingly uncomfortable footwear I have ever tried to wear. Now give me a nice pair of old fashioned wooden Scholls Grin

SugarPasteHedgehog · 08/04/2012 22:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

edam · 08/04/2012 22:52

pointythings, which brand are you talking about? My Mother has had plantar fasciitis and would be jolly grateful for any recommendations for comfy footwear.

BonfireOfKleenex · 08/04/2012 22:59

marriedinwhite - eek no - I am still traumatised by the wooden Scholes I had as a child, I once made the mistake of trying to run in them. They slipped slightly off my foot, and coming down on the edge of them with my heel was one of the most excruciating experiences of my life [bushock]

OP - were you wearing your flip flops in the UK or France? If it was the UK you should just tell him that his shopping-outfit-poncery is sorely misplaced.

Devora · 08/04/2012 22:59

Ah yes, the bronze fit flops. They have made SUCH a difference to me - my knee pain has almost disappeared. Expensive but they have made me feel ten years younger. I feel very Sad when it's too cold to wear them.

lurkerspeaks · 08/04/2012 23:07

For those looking for comfy footwear I really recommend the mephisto helen.

It is an upmarket flipflop (although in reality most of the forces go through the footstrap not the toe post). I have them in about 4 different colours and wear them all summer long.

Pandemoniaa · 08/04/2012 23:14

I can't wear bogstandard standard flip-flops - it's the bit going through my toes that hurts. But Birkies are a different matter altogether. Once Birkie season has been declared (and how unreasonable it was for the unseasonably warm weather the other week to fool me into thinking it had) then that's it. They are worn everywhere.

But I guess it rather depends on the flip-flop. Ancient old things that the dog has chewed probably don't fit with office clothes.

edam · 08/04/2012 23:34

What are these bronze flip flops? Tried google but just get loads of flip flops that are bronze coloured.

Devora · 09/04/2012 00:45

www.fitflop.com/view-all-womens/electra-bronze/invt/electrabronze/

These are my ones, edam. Any fitflop that fits, really (I find they do fit differently, so must be tried on). I like these ones because the elastic doesn't stretch so much, so avoiding clawing with the toes.

I was very Hmm about fitflops as a concept - not least the claim that they firm up your bum (which I'm sure they do, if walk 260 miles in them a day). I certainly don't wear them for their aesthetic qualities. But they are so blissfully comfortable - like putting my poor old joints in a warm bath...

iscream · 09/04/2012 01:22

They are bad for your feet in the long run though, my chiropodist told me I shouldn't wear them. I don't think it is disgraceful to wear them to a store, you weren't being judged in a fashion show after all.

PoppaRob · 09/04/2012 05:01

I'm perhaps making an observation based on a small sample here, but when I was with wife #2 we had a lot of British friends (this was in Australia in the 80s and 90s) and the women all wore high heels almost all of the time. I even remember one newly arrived Mancusian 30something woman who met us at the beach wearing a bikini, sarong and high heels! Mind you this same woman made the comment that she never felt as safe in Australian airports as she did in British airports because the security guards in Australia didn't carry guns! Anyway, they all complained constantly about their feet and what the heels had done to them, and to be honest most of them had feet that had been disfigured by decades of being jammed at a crazy downward angle into high heels so their feet were not all that attractive to look at anyway. Big toes pointing inwards and smaller toes all distorted. I'm sure part of the reason why they never wore thongs (flip flops) was that their feet looked like crap and thongs would have been uncomfortable to feet used to being confined. Last winter I noticed a number of well dressed women wearing what I'd call high heeled boots... stiletto heel and severely tapering forefoot... which would be just as disfiguring on their feet as traditional high heels. Hopefully commonsense will win over fashion sense but I doubt it.

My 30 year old daughter is in middle management in a manufacturing company and wears one of several pairs of Havianas (I call them yuppy thongs) to work and it's quite acceptable, but if she has to go out into the production or despatch areas she pops on sturdier protective shoes and socks. At home she lives in sneakers, Havis or is barefoot.

ben5 · 09/04/2012 05:15

love my thongs and spend most of my time in them!

PoppaRob · 09/04/2012 05:20

iscream your chiropodist is making a livelihood from harvesting toenails and repairing the damage done by bad footwear. I worked at the School of Physiothery at UniSA which also included podiatry (chiropody). The consensus was that we evolved from tree dwelling apes to savannah dwelling homonids to function perfectly well with bare feet. As we came "out of Africa" and spread to other areas the plantar surface of our feet sometimes needed protection so we learned to wrap our feet to protect them from trauma, extremes of heat or cold, or to give us better grip and/or traction. Unless there's a need for that protection or improved grip flip flops make for very sensible footwear.

differentnameforthis · 09/04/2012 05:49

Thongs (flip flops) are worn everywhere over here.

nooka · 09/04/2012 05:53

If I wore flip flops I would be in a great deal of pain within a few minutes as I can't wear shoes without ankle straps (I can' t wear ballet type shoes either, only Mary Janes).

I wouldn't have thought that anyone would much care what shoes you wore in a supermarket.

Hopandaskip · 09/04/2012 06:00

I wear flip flops pretty much everywhere. However I live in Southern California near the beach and there isn't a whole lot of formal here.

mamij · 09/04/2012 06:05

I live in my flip-flops in the summer! Easy to put on and keeps my feet cool. They come in various colours and styles, and you can even have 'posh' flip-flops.

My DH also hates me wearing them because he is Chinese and it's considered to be house slippers not suitable for going out in. He chastises me whenever we go to Hong Kong, I just tell him to shut up and put up as they are my feet!

thelittlestkiwi · 09/04/2012 06:11

Flip flops are formal wear in NZ. You wear them when going barefoot is inappropriate.

I can't wear them- hate the feel of that bit between my toes. But DD is a proper kiwi kid who spends most of her days barefoot.

Hopandaskip · 09/04/2012 06:16

www.target.com/p/Women-s-Merona-Laura-Comfort-Flip-Flop-Tan/-/A-13747340

I had two pair of these last summer which I have lived in. One pair was black, one pair were black. They were extremely comfortable and easy to do pretty much anything in. I finally threw the white ones out today as I bought myself a pair of slip on sandals instead. I might go and get the brown ones from Target later this week though!

All flip flops are not made equally. Some are 200% more comfortable than others.

Hopandaskip · 09/04/2012 06:17

www.target.com/p/Women-s-Merona-Laura-Comfort-Flip-Flop-Tan/-/A-13747340

(sorry, forgot to make it clickable)

Hopandaskip · 09/04/2012 06:20

feet aren't meant to have arch supports, feet are meant to support themselves.

nooka · 09/04/2012 06:34

Well feet weren't designed to wear shoes either were they? If I wear shoes that don't support my arches they hurt like hell. Not a problem if I don't wear shoes at all though, so clearly the problem is the shoes, not my feet. Flip flops have always seemed really impractical to me. dd likes them, but they are no good for rough and tumble play, tree climbing, running etc. as they fall off so easily.

iscream · 09/04/2012 06:52

PoppaRob, thanks for the information. It makes sense in theory. And I have 3 pairs of flip flops that are comfortable, they are thick spongy rubber. But I have tried other flip flops that give me foot pain. Same with shoes. I can't wear bare feet, I get foot pain. But I have plantar facisits, arthritis, bone spurs, so probably that is why.
The foot guy made me insoles, and I find they really help my back, very much! But they kill my feet! I am going to go back and see him. So far the best thing for my feet has been memory foam insoles stuck inside Nike's, or my cheap $10 Walmart flip flops.