Havaianas and Isabel Marant debut laid-back flip-flops for summer

The smartest thing Havaianas and Isabel Marant did was not invent a new silhouette. For their first-ever limited-edition partnership, unveiled on May 22 in a digital-first rollout, they took the most recognizable summer shoe in the world and gave it just enough Parisian polish to make it feel legitimate everywhere from the sand to the sidewalk.

That legitimacy comes through in two very different but equally persuasive styles. The Top Ikat Flip Flops retail at $120, while the Maxi Puffed Studs Flip Flops land at $190, each offered in two colorways. One reads like a softened classic, the other pushes further into fashion territory with sculptural puffed straps and silver studs. Both lean on tie-dye and ikat-inspired prints, with the color story spanning an earthy brown-and-cream palette and a brighter cherry-red version. It is a smart move commercially: instead of chasing another niche luxury shoe silhouette, the collaboration gives a globally familiar rubber flip-flop enough design vocabulary to justify attention at a higher price point.

Havaianas framed the meeting as “Parisian boho meets Brazilian laid-back allure,” a pitch that feels tailor-made for Isabel Marant, the Paris house founded in 1995 and long associated with easy, undone dressing. Marant called the project “the Brazilian quintessence of joy, freedom and summer ‘nonchalance,’” and said the shoes were “designed to be worn from day to night and from beach to town - even ending at a party!” That line lands because it captures exactly why the collaboration works: it sells movement, not just style. The shoes are built to travel through a day, not sit still as a statement piece.

Maria Fernanda Albuquerque, Havaianas’ global vice president of marketing, said the collaboration “reflects a movement” the brand has been building over time, and that is the more interesting story here. Havaianas, launched in 1962, has always had mass recognition; Isabel Marant brings fashion authority. Together, they turn a humble Brazilian staple into a product that can credibly sit in a city wardrobe without losing the beachside ease that made it famous.

The collaboration is being sold on Havaianas.com, IsabelMarant.com and participating Havaianas locations, and it arrives at a moment when flip-flops have moved far beyond poolside utility. What Havaianas and Marant understand better than most is that the most commercially potent luxury move right now is not to make something unfamiliar. It is to make something everyone already knows look newly desirable.