Clothing Definitions — definitions of garments and clothing terms from Apparel Search
Sandals are an open type of footwear, held to the foot by straps over a flat sole so that much of the foot stays exposed to the air. Espadrilles are a kind of sandal, and mules and flip-flops are close relatives: flip-flops, the simplest form, can only be worn with bare feet or special socks. Sandals are made of rope, rubber, leather, wood, as in clogs and the Japanese geta, or tatami, as in zori. Because the construction is so simple, the sandal is one of the oldest forms of footwear, and versions of it appear in nearly every warm-climate clothing tradition.
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 "zouri," 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 "warabi" (sole woven from straw with straw or cloth thongs, and sometimes extra ties over the foot and around the leg, often used for travelling).
Women's sandals come in a wide variety of styles. Men's sandals do as well.
Learn about the various styles of women's sandals from the Apparel Search footwear guide.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sandal_(footwear) 10/7/04 Modified by Apparel Search. |
The Japanese tradition shows how far the simple sandal can be developed. The zori is a flat-soled sandal held by cloth thongs between the toes. The geta raises the same idea off the ground on a wooden sole supported by one or two horizontal wooden blocks, keeping the foot above mud and puddles. The waraji, woven from straw with straw or cloth thongs and sometimes extra ties over the foot and around the leg, was the travelling sandal, sturdy enough for long journeys on foot. This construction, a sole piece held on by thongs from the inner and outer side of the foot to the gap between the first two toes, was the norm in Japan before the westernisation of clothing, and it is the direct ancestor of the rubber flip-flop worn on beaches worldwide.
Because a sandal holds the foot mainly by its straps, fit is about strap placement rather than the enclosed sizing of a shoe. Straps should hold the foot without rubbing, the sole should match the length of the foot so toes do not hang over the front edge, and a contoured footbed gives support that a completely flat sole cannot. Leather sandals mould to the foot with wear and suit dry conditions; rubber and synthetic sandals tolerate water and suit the beach and pool; rope-soled espadrilles are light summer footwear best kept dry. Women's sandals and men's sandals each come in a wide variety of styles, from flat walking sandals and heeled dress sandals to sport sandals with rugged soles, and the guides linked from this page cover those styles in detail.
Care follows the material. Leather benefits from cleaning and conditioning and should dry away from direct heat. Rubber and plastic sandals wash clean with soap and water. Rope and tatami soles should be kept as dry as possible, since natural fibres weaken and stain when they stay wet. Stored flat and out of strong sunlight, a well-made pair of sandals lasts many summers, which is one reason the design has survived, essentially unchanged, for thousands of years.
A sandal is open footwear: a sole held to the foot by straps, leaving most of the foot exposed. That separates sandals from shoes and boots, which enclose the foot, and from slippers, which are closed indoor footwear. Mules, which have no back strap, and flip-flops, which are held only by a toe post, are both related forms.
Jandals is the New Zealand expression for rubber beach sandals, called thongs in Australia. It is said to come from Japanese sandals, because the shape resembles the Japanese zori, a flat sole held on by two cloth thongs passing between the big toe and the second toe.
Almost any flat, durable material: rope, rubber, leather, wood and tatami are all traditional. Modern sandals add moulded plastic soles, fabric straps and cushioned footbeds, but the structure, a sole and straps, stays the same across all of them.