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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Investors Hop On Flip-Flop Shoe Trend

If the shoe fits – buy it. That’s what John Dickinson and Tom Courtney, private investors from Newport Beach, did with their recent purchase of Thousand Oaks’ flip-flop brand Flojos. The pair had been hunting for a company to buy that would fit with Dickinson’s background in sportswear and sneakers, and Courtney’s private equity firm Courtney Group Inc., which invests in footwear and apparel brands. Dickinson’s experience is in surf, skate and snow sports brands – particularly those with roots in L.A. and Orange counties. He worked for the street and skateboard brand Vans from Cypress, now owned by VF Corp. of Greensboro, N.C.; Maui and Sons, a surf shoe brand out of Pacific Palisades and Globe Shoes. In Flojos they found a local footwear company with a casual vibe, well-known past and a lot of future potential. “We felt it was a real strong heritage brand – one of oldest and most original surf sandals,” Dickinson said, Flojos’ new chief executive. “Everything was right about the deal.” Courtney and Dickinson bought Flojos (pronounced flo-hos) from its prior owners, husband and wife Nellie and Sheng Yen Lin, who owned it since 1996. The brand’s roots are in Guadalajara, Mexico. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Flojos sells its thong and original crisscross flip-flops and a few shoes to men, women and kids in 200 different styles, sizes and colors. Sales were roughly $20 million in 2015 to about 2,000 retailers, including Tilly’s Inc. of Orange County; Flip Flop Shops of Irvine, owned by Sherman Oaks’ Cherokee Inc.; Amazon.com Inc. and its Zappos.com business and Costco Wholesale Corp. Dickinson and Courtney think the brand can do a lot more, and plan to expand Flojos’ limited distribution across the U.S. by leveraging Dickinson’s connections. “For us, that was one of the opportunities, because in my previous business, I sold to 14,000 retailers,” Dickinson said. However, the company’s time in Thousand Oaks, where only five or six people work, may come to an end, Dickinson said. “A lot of these types of brands are from this (Newport Beach) area,” he added. – Carol Lawrence

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