Lake Shore

At Colombo's Barefoot Garden Cafe, on a typically sunny afternoon two sisters, with little in common but for looks, personality and surname, found themselves checking out people's shoes. One sister, let's call her 'Akki', remarked to the other how strange it was that, in a tropical country such as Sri Lanka, so few people sought the comfort of rubber slippers. The other sister, let's call her 'Nangi', gave Akki a strange look - but deep inside the convoluted labyrinths of their minds the idea of "Urban Thongs" was born.

In Sri Lanka, rubber slippers have commonly been confined to the bathroom and the beach - out of the public eye as it were.  Why? Quite simply because the flip flops available on the local market rarely flipped but often flopped. They limited individuality in much the same way that "Urban Thongs'" unique range promotes diversity.

n this day and age of cyber networks and BlackBerries, skinny lattes and speed dating, the sisters felt that urban dwellers needed to be reminded of the simple pleasures in life.

Stealing more than a moment to Stop. Enjoy the simplicities of life and beauty.

Urban Thongs" was a natural manifestation of this craving for expressing the sisters' lifestyle and culture.  Growing up in a tropical paradise, life was like a "Malibu Rum" ad, only a little bit longer!  Sri Lanka may not be a Banana Republic in the true sense of the expression, but the easy going, relaxed, perpetually smiling nature of its locals can be spotted anywhere.

Thus, "Urban Thongs" was an initiative to amalgamate the values and symbolic representations of Sri Lanka with a commodity that the island is famous for (rubber). It was an idea to introduce a Sri Lankan brand that embodied an island experience in a fashionable casing to a new generation.

Remember: You don't have to be uncomfortable to look good. You don't have to take yourself too seriously to be taken seriously.