We Don’t Need “Smart” Flip-Flops

Especially if they cost $110.

Have you ever looked down at your flip flops and wished that they were smarter? Hari Mari, a flip flop brand has a solution for this age-old conundrum, answering a question that nobody has ever asked, by debuting a line of “smart” flip-flops that seem like a nuisance more than anything else.

It Only Took 5,000 Years, But The Flip-Flop Is Finally Getting Smarter | Fast Company

The $110 shoes are a collaboration with Nokona, a company that makes baseball gloves; it goes without saying that they’re currently only available for men. What makes them special, aside from being made out of nice leather, is their presumed intelligence.

Today, they’re launching a new line of high-tech flip flops that will allow the brand to continue its relationship with the wearer long after they’ve purchased the product. The footwear will be embedded with a special low-range chip that will help Hari Mari gather the same kind of data that an online retailer would get.

If you’ve always wanted your shoes to silently communicate to the brands that made them, then these are the shoes for you. Online retailers capture an awful lot of information about their customers and their shopping and browsing habits. This is why ads for Adidas sneakers and face creams follow me around the internet — you look at one pair of shoes for five minutes and that’s all it takes. When you buy something in person, that data isn’t readily available. These flip flops want to change the game.

Each person who buys the shoe will be able to download the app, which give you discounts and also allow you to “communicate directly with both brands.” The only reason I’d want to communicate directly with the brand that makes my flip flops is if said flip flop breaks within hours of wearing them.

The embedded chip uses near-field communication technology, meaning it can’t track you over long distances. Rather, you can pair it with your mobile app to get Hari Mari’s special offers. For the five-year-old company, the feature will help establish a relationship with the buyer, gathering user data like email and home addresses, as well as some demographic information.

Clearly, this “smart” shoe benefits the brand and not the consumer — unless another email in your inbox about “special offers” is something you consider a benefit. Lila Stewart, one of the founders of Hari Mari, realized this and told Fast Company that they’re figuring out “creative ways to keep customers engaged with the app.”

For instance, they might send the customer special messages or discounts on their birthday or a note informing them about the weather in their area to determine whether it’s the right day to wear flip flops.

Call me crazy, but wouldn’t it be better if the flip flop to be smart in a way that was actually useful? If there was a activity tracker in there that synched to the app and gave you information about what your steps, that seems okay, but ultimately, $110 is a lot of money to pay for flip flops made from baseball glove leather that also transmits information to the brand for their purposes.

Wouldn’t it be preferable if the flip flop wasn’t “smart” at all? Haven’t we learned our lesson, what with the dolls and the vibrators doing stuff with our information? Flip flops don’t need to be smart! They’re shoes.

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