Rick Owens Flip Flops

The flip flop is the least designed object in the world. It is a sole and a thong, and its entire history is one of being cheap. Making one in lamb leather, padded, on a platform, in Italy, is an act of straight-faced absurdity that this house has always been rather good at, and the joke only works because the execution is completely serious.

Lamb is the softest leather in general use, which is exactly wrong for footwear by conventional logic and exactly right here. The strap is padded, so where a rubber thong cuts, this sits. The platform gives the sole enough thickness to walk on properly rather than slapping along the ground. What you end up with is a genuinely comfortable shoe, which is not what anyone expects to hear about a flip flop.

We would rather be honest about the object than build a philosophy around it. It is a beautifully made version of a very stupid shoe, and that is a real category.

Why we selected it

Santa Fe has a long summer and a relaxed one, and the customer who dresses seriously still needs something to put on in July. This is the answer that does not involve giving up. It is also a piece that makes people smile in the store, which is worth more in a fifty-year business than it sounds.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent lamb leather. Made in Italy, in Black. Padded strap on a slightly thickened platform sole. From Spring/Summer 2025.

Fit notes

A thong sandal fits at the toe post and the strap and nowhere else, so length is the only real measurement. Leather straps soften and mould to the foot within a few wearings, which means a pair that feels firm on the first day is normal. Try them on if you can.

Styling

With a wide trouser or a long skirt in the summer, where only the platform shows. With shorts, obviously. It is a flip flop; it does not need help.

Care

Lamb leather and water are not friends, and this is a shoe people will want to take to water. Keep them out of the pool and out of the sea, let them dry naturally and away from direct sun if they do get wet, and accept that a leather footbed will darken where the foot sits, which is the shoe recording its owner rather than a fault. Our care guidance covers the general principles.

Related pieces

We would point to the Ballast Mule, the SS26 Cantilever 6 Minimal Sandal, and the Mega Bumper Low Sneaks. Everything we currently hold from Rick Owens is listed together.