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Sandal (footwear)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Sandals are an open type of footwear, consisting of a sole held to the wearer's foot by straps or thongs. While the distinction between sandals and other types of footwear can sometimes be blurry (as in the case of huaraches—the woven leather footwear seen in Mexico), the common understanding is that a sandal reveals most or all of the foot (especially the toes) to view. People may choose to wear sandals for several reasons, among them economy (sandals tend to require less material than shoes), comfort in warm weather, and (especially for women) for reasons of fashion and attractiveness.
Usually, sandals are worn in warmer climates or during warmer parts of the year, because feet stay cool and dry. The chances of getting a fungal infection on your feet (athlete's foot) is lower than with wearing an enclosed shoe, and wearing sandals may be part of treatment for a fungal foot infection.
There are many different kinds of sandals. A sandal may have a sole made from rope (espadrilles), rubber, leather, wood (clogs or geta) or tatami (as in zori). It may be held to the foot by a thong passing between the first and second toe, or by a strap that passes over the arch of the foot. It may or may not have a heel strap. It may have no heel, a high heel, or anything in between.
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 zori, 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 waraji (sole woven from straw with straw or cloth thongs, and sometimes extra ties over the foot and around the leg, often used for traveling).
"Saltwater sandals" are/were a popular children's footwear, originally developed (by the Hoy Shoe Company of St. Louis, MO) in the 1940s as a way of coping with wartime leather shortages, as they were designed to be made largely from the scrap leather left over from making men's shoes. They are still made by the original manufacturer.
There is a new type of sandals that are gaining popularity that are known as Yoga sandals. They are sandals that have a thong between all the toes, not just the big toe and second toe. They were originally designed to help spread the toes for better balance during the practice of Yoga. It has been claimed that they can have major health benefits on the feet and body. It is claimed that they can help arthritis in the feet, bunions, hammer toes, and other foot ailments, and that they can also help with lower back pain by providing better skeletal alignment.[citation needed] In the Mediterranean there are another kind of sandals, "albarcas" or "avarques" or "menorquinas" . It's a traditional footwear, it was first worn by farms workers, but over the years it has evolved to become an indispensable addition to summer clothing.

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