Flip flop finery

Just because winter’s here doesn’t mean we’re about to trade our rubber slippers for boots … though boot hoarders look forward to any dips in the temperature.

Katie Kraatz is now sharing our love of slippers with the thousands of visitors who traipse down Kalakaua Avenue every day as well as giving locals the opportunity to customize their own slippers, whether for everyday wear or to match a particular outfit.

Kraatz started the Flip Flop Workshop on the Big Island three years ago and opened one at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa this month, stocking soles, straps and decorations ranging from silk flowers and rhinestones to felt basketballs, footballs and soccer balls.

As simple as slippers may be, crafting a pair is not all that easy with 12 sole colors and 14 strap colors to choose from. It gives one a new appreciation for the myriad decisions that go into designing for retail.

"It takes us five minutes to put together, but it takes customers about 45 minutes to pick out all the pieces," said Kraatz, whose staff of "Flip Flop Geniuses" offer assistance and show how the completed design will look.

"The fastest are the kids. Kids come in and they know exactly what they want. They don’t have that voice in the back of their heads saying, ‘Oh, this just isn’t right. These colors don’t go together.’ Adults will come in and take as long as three hours."

There are so many fun color combinations that it would be worthwhile to study your closet before heading to the shop.

The base cost of the slippers is $18 for children and $20 for adults. Add-on elements start at $1.25 for a single crystal and $3 for a flower or other fabric embellishment, which includes a crystal that works like a grommet to hold it in place. A two-layer flower is $6, and a three-layer flower is $9. Rhinestone clips in the shape of pineapples, starfish, hearts and butterflies are $8 each.

It’s easy to go crazy adding elements, and one woman who topped her feet with a garden of 40 layered flowers walked away with a $150 pair of slippers.

"Parents often ask, ‘Can I leave my kids here?’ But that’s a mistake," Kraatz said. "The longer they’re here, the more expensive the slippers are going to be."

Kraatz’s background is in retail, and she said, "I’m really not crafty myself but I love creative ideas. Everybody seems to love making things, whether they’re 3 or 73. Teenagers seem to have the most fun because they don’t have to match anything. It’s total freedom."

In contemplating the slipper, she said it’s such a simple item, she asked herself, "Why can’t we make it custom?"

Kraatz uses materials from Brazil. "It’s the same as Havaianas, so the soles have a lot of rubber in them, not hard plastic, so you’ll feel the difference," she said.

In the beginning, though, she said she made a lot of mistakes, such as trying to secure the decorative elements with glue.

"Of course the glue didn’t last outdoors, but I had the best customers who were so patient. On the Big Island, after they discovered us, locals would come back when they had visitors in town as a special activity to do."

It’s an idea that’s also perfect for the holidays as a girls’-night-out party, family craft outing or as a gift certificate for a hard-to-buy-for teen or tween.

"Seventy to 80 percent of our business is whole families. The rest are women and/or couples," she said, although sizes for men top out at 10.

For men forced to sit around while their significant others create, Kraatz offers a Rubik’s cube to keep them occupied.

In the short time the shop has been open, Kraatz has already fielded offers from visitors from Dubai to Switzerland who are interested in bringing the concept home; she is contemplating starting a chain or franchise operation.

"I think it’s because people are on vacation and want to think outside the box," she said, but mostly they see firsthand the joy of "bringing out the inner artist in every person who walks in the store."

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The Flip Flop Workshop is in the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, around the corner from the valet area. Open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Call 896-0831.