It all started on Mauritius
Are you curious how the whole Owniez Flip Flops concept started on Mauritius? You can read the interesting story below.
In September 2017, I moved to Mauritius with my husband because of his work. Every day I saw people walking on boring black, blue and sometimes a few stray red flip flops. A lot of people walked on flip flops, which is quite logical on such a beautiful tropical island, but I still wondered why are they so boring?
You are always in a happy relaxed mood when you have flip flops on your feet. And when you look at your feet you don’t see something very cheerful or colorful.
Flip flops, where are they produced? What are they made of anyway and could I also design my own flip flops? All good questions but couldn’t give a good answer to any of them. I knew nothing about flip flops except that I wore them every day myself.
With a background as a fashion consultant and several years of experience in the fashion industry, I did some research within my network. I asked producers, suppliers and entrepreneurs in different countries everything I wanted to know.
Amazing and unique flip flops designed and produced on Mauritius.
We have been able to design the most beautiful flip flops for kids, adults and several companies. Customers could also buy ready-made owniez flip flops. Some of them are still in our ‘ready-made’ owniez collection. Feel free to take a look at our webshop.
Wedding flip flops with the bridal bouquet on them, colorful designs for fashionistas and unique ‘king’s day’ flip flops for the consul of the Netherlands on Mauritius.
In this is how it all started on the beautiful island of Mauritius. Every day you could find us on a different spot, on the beach, amazing festival, on schools, different sportclubs and the most beautiful resorts with the white sandy beaches and amazing blue sea.
TAKE A LOOK AT THE OWNIEZ WEBSHOP AND SELECT YOUR MOST AMAZING FLIP FLOPS
There are 1.4 million tourists in Mauritius, and I want them all on unique customized Owniez Flip Flops.
Every day, 3 billion people walk in flip flops in this world. My interest was aroused and my search began, after all I was looking for a new concept. A concept that was not there before, unique and affordable for everyone.
At the beginning of 2018, Owniez Flip Flops was founded in Mauritius. Through my network I had found a reliable supplier for my soles and straps. Molds were made, machines imported, displays made locally and the design could begin.
There are a lot of tourists on Mauritius, about 1.4 million. Almost all tourists book a beautiful resort on the coast and spend their entire vacation there. There were hardly any real interesting shops on the rest of the island. How could I sell my unique colorful customized flip flops? By meeting this large group of tourists every day at the place where they celebrated their holiday. Selling slippers every day at a different place on the island of Owniez should be possible from a mobile shop.
Everywhere on the island I looked whether I could buy a cargo bike locally or have it made. Unfortunately, this does not work, so I bought a cargo bike in China and had it shipped. All machines fit well on the bike, my laptop to design flip flops and all other necessary things. My flip flop concept was successful, and this great idea was born on Mauritius.
After living and working in Mauritius for 2 years, we moved to Nairobi (Kenya) in September 2019. Private and business we packed everything and on to new adventures. Fortunately, we knew this early so I had time to set up Owniez Kenya and close Owniez Mauritius. Setting up a company as an expat partners is quite a bit of work, but slowly starting to become a real pro at this.
Bye beautiful slow tropical bounty island, thanks for all the inspiration, tasting of all different cultures, the start of Owniez Flip Flops and the most beautiful sunsets.
Nairobi here we come!
