Flip-Flops / Thongs
Everyone has to have something to wear at the beach, and for as long as I can remember this seems to have been flip-flops; named for the sound they make as you walk. I know Australians refer to these as Thongs because of the thong that holds the upper to the bottom, hence the double title.
I have seen a number of shops specialising in Thongs lately, and they attract a lot of browsers because of the bright colours and low prices. There will be a seasonal factor unless you live right on the equator but we will talk about that later.
www.customflipflops.com will give you a good idea of what is possible in terms of customising flip flops with logos, or your own designs. They retail starting at $3.95 compared to $6.95 as the starting price on www.bizrate.com, which would leave a nice mark-up even on non-customised items.
One of the nicest applications I have seen was a machine in a department store that allowed the customer to choose the sole colour and thong colour separately and then fit the thong. Even with only 10 colours of each this gives the customer an amazing choice.
In terms of distribution I would look at the following: -
Shop or other retail outlet
Direct response
Articles in magazines or on targeted websites
EBay
Website
A shop, or market stall, or small retail outlet would be the ideal way to sell flip-flops as they tend to be bright in colour and catch people's eye. It is more expensive than any other distribution method, and because this is a seasonal product creates some added difficulties. You don't need to give up your job to staff a shop full time; hire part time employees on a casual basis and make sure you get references. The seasonal factor can be solved one of two ways, take a short lease for the spring / summer months or find a seasonal winter product that you can sell in the off season, for example gloves, scarves, Xmas decorations etc.
A simple advert in the Yellow pages will not be targeted enough, but direct response should work providing you can target your audience. Aim to get colourful flyers put into youth magazines, or travel brochures. Another approach might be to offer customised flip-flops carrying logos to businesses via trade magazines, this will generate fewer responses but should bring in some larger orders.
Writing articles about flip-flops for lifestyle magazines or websites should generate a lot of interest. If you have a website then this will bring you a lot of traffic. You should think about what makes your product different, or maybe put a different spin on a fashion element by recommending flip-flops with evening dresses. Be creative and provide sound reasons for your views if you want to get published.
Ebay has almost 3000 adverts for flip-flops, but by posting a number of adverts for different styles at reasonable prices you should be able to find some orders. Aim to brand your product so that it is clear you are a supplier for flip-flops and not just a ransom seller of an unwanted gift. Link your ads back to your website if you have one.
Building a website may drive a chunk of traffic if you are clever with the search terms. <Flip-flops> produces 1.8 million hits on Google but <flip flops> without the hyphen only produces about 130,000. it will obviously be much easier to get to the top of the search rankings using <flip flops> without a hyphen. You will of course need to drive your traffic from offline sources with PR and advertising as well as using online techniques to push visitors. Visit my blog using the link on theleft of this page to read about the strategies I have employed to increase visitors to www.ideas2earn.com
There are literally thousands of suppliers. Look for countries with cheap labour such as Vietnam, China, Indonesia, The Philippines etc. and email suppliers to find out about shipping, customisation options and pricing. You may need to make some overseas phone calls when you think you have found some interesting prospects, but find someone you are comfortable dealing with, and who is willing to accept smaller orders initially.
If you are selling to individual customers then you will need to provide a full range of sizes. For corporate sales you may get away with holding no stock and ordering in 2 sizes say a 10 for men and a 6 for women.
If you can get a lease break on a shop then it is less expensive and less of a commitment to set up.
If you are creative then this is an opportunity to be so with less competition than say T-shirts.