In 1984 one Grand Canyon river guide singlehandedly launched the sport sandal market by beefing up his flip flops with an extra ankle strap.
It was the start of Teva, and by the end of the decade, his simple sandal fix had become an outdoor giant and marketing sensation. Teva’s custom webbing designs and all manner of Velcro straps brought the outdoors to the masses.
But real river guides wore Alps.
In the early ‘90s, Alps dealt with all of the deficiencies of Teva’s original designs. Every river guide knows Velcro lasts 10 seconds in whitewater. Alps could take a pounding. They had a sticky climbing shoe tread and a multi-anchor strap system that built redundancy so if one blew, you didn’t lose your sandal. They were brilliant, functional and ridiculous looking, better suited to a Roman soldier or toga party.
Rookie guides would always show up to training with new Velcro Tevas, only to lose one on the first day’s swim and contribute to the staff room box of single sandals (in which you might get lucky and find a match—sweet!).
Alps stayed on.
One of my most memorable swims from a raft ruined my first pair. They were light blue, and as a rookie guide I was quite proud of them—I’d already lost a left Teva, size 10.5 (I still have the right one). I flipped my paddle raft and got tangled up in the bowline that snaked free. I pulled my brand new river knife to cut the rope from around my ankles and accidentally sliced my Alps. I was heartbroken, but relieved that they’d saved me from chopping into an ankle artery. I promptly replaced them with a nice burgundy pair; it was the ‘90s, after all.
They lasted three seasons of guiding and by the time I went to replace them, Alps were gone. Sort of.
As a company, Alps never circulated beyond the small river guide fraternity, and hadn’t seemed to try to. That made them an easy target for footwear giant, Deckers, who, by this time, owned Teva. Deckers bought out Alps in 1995 and the sandals were demoted to a style line within Teva.
Luckily, the new Teva Alps were as good as the originals. They opened the door for more sport sandals to mature from Velcro to intelligent buckles and straps. Alps turned Tevas into the workhorse of the river world.
Alps’ multiple thin straps looked ridiculous and they weren’t made for long, but I pulled my ’96 Teva Alps out a couple of summers ago for a five-day memory trip love-in, and they were still bomber.
Alps got it right early on, even though the minimalist sole left my heels aching after a mild hike. I never did see an abandoned Alp in the staff room singles box. JEFF JACKSON
Scott MacGregor is the founder and publisher of Rapid magazine.
This article was first published in the Spring 2014 issue of Rapid Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.
