Today’s flip-flops are worn with the strap between the first and second toes, but that wasn’t always the case. Many early cultures, including the Romans and the Mesopotamians, wore their flip-flops with the strap between the second and third toes. We can thank the ancient Greeks for showing us that the most comfortable way to wear flip-flops is with the strap between the first and second toes. The flip-flops of ancient Greece were more closely aligned with modern flip-flops than any of the footwear that came before.
In 2011, then-president Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to be photographed wearing flip-flops. This was, most likely, the first time the people of the United States saw a president’s toes. While the media had a field day condemning the president for his casual footwear, University of Pennsylvania’s Kathleen Hall Jamieson had the perfect retort when she said, “If you were born in Hawaii, if you grew up in Hawaii, if you vacation in Hawaii and you don’t wear flip-flops, then there is something seriously wrong with you.”