Teva

Teva was created in 1984 by Mark Thatcher, a river guide working the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, who was frustrated by losing his flip-flops in the rapids. His solution was to attach two Velcro watchbands to a pair of flip-flops, creating a rubber-soled sandal with straps secure enough to stay on a foot through whitewater while still working as everyday footwear on land. Thatcher initially sold pairs out of a van to fellow river guides and boaters at put-in points along the river, a grassroots distribution method typical of outdoor-gear brands that grow out of a specific sport community. In 1985 Thatcher moved from California Pacific, an earlier manufacturing partner, to Deckers Corporation, based in Goleta, California; that relationship deepened over the following years until Deckers acquired Teva outright, along with its patents and trademarks, in 2002. Teva remains part of Deckers Brands' portfolio today, alongside other footwear labels the company later built or acquired, including Ugg and Hoka. The brand is generally credited within the outdoor industry with creating the modern sport-sandal category, and its early success is often cited as having encouraged the later founding of competing brands such as Chaco and Keen.