Jay Longley, owner of San Clemente-based Rainbow Sandals, has added some bling to his popular leather flip-flops.
It was his wife’s idea.
“It’s easier to just say yes,” Longley said joking.
The shoemaker recently took its trademark leather sandals and imbedded the straps with colored Swarovski crystals.
Nordstrom, one of Rainbow’s accounts, tested them out.
Women customers went crazy for them, Longley said.
The company plans to increase its selection in 2008 and launch the shoes throughout its accounts, including Dillard’s Inc., Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. and Journeys, a shoe store. They sell for $80 a pair.
It seems like Rainbow has the Midas touch when it comes to sandals. The 33-year-old company is a 1970s icon that initially garnered a following with wedge sandals that had rainbow soles.
Three decades later, big wave surfers and regular Joes still are clambering for the brand.
The company has been on a tear, introducing new leather sandals in different colors, sheepskin boots, clothes and even opening its own stores.
Rainbow grew from $5 million in sales in 2001 to a projected $50 million in 2007, Longley said.
For more on this story, see the Dec. 31 edition of the Business Journal.
