Mark Thatcher is the founder and owner of Teva, the company that has now become a well known name in the business of sandals. While working as a rafting guide in the Grand Canyon, he noticed that most of the boatmen wore athletic shoes or hiking shoes while in the river and he himself wore thongs or flip flops.
Both types of footwear have drawbacks as athletic shoes or hiking shoes got wet easily and the feet of the wearers got fungus and gravel while thongs or flip flops got off the wearer’s foot while running.
After spending some time, Mark Thatcher designed a sandal in which nylon ankle strap was used to support the feet of the wearer, although the shape of the shoe was just like a thong. Luckily, Velcro material also came up during the same period when was looking for an option for thongs. He used Velcro to strap around the ankles so that the sandal remained bound to the wearer’s feet. After making this sample, he realized that he did not have enough finances to start manufacturing these sandals and thus, he needed to search for a manufacturer to produce his sandals.
Initially, only 200 pairs of sandals were sold in the first year mainly because people complained about their thong style straps. Some people also got blisters between their first and second toes because of the straps. Next year, American youngsters started finding them hot and fashionable and thus, their sales increased manifolds instantly.
At this time, Mark Thatcher and Deckers Corporation became partners and eventually, Deckers also got exclusive rights to the Tevas with their patent for the basic design. They also got trademark for Tevas as the brand name.
In the year 1988, Deckers re-designed the Tevas and developed a new system of strapping, producing the first model of the line named as Hurricane. This new system of strapping consisted of three parts: the heel strap, the toe post and side strap. The basic design of the Teva sandals manufactured today still follow the design of the Hurricane.
All the sandals produced by Teva today are very comfortable to wear and are free from causing any foot related problems for the wearer. The soles of these sandals are harder and thus, they provide better grip to the wearer while walking on wet surfaces and even while in water.
