Before They Were Goalposts, They Were Flip Flops-The Havaianas x KidSuper Story Makes More Sense Than You Think

Every kid has used something as a goalpost, a bag, bottle, stones. In Brazil it was almost always a pair of flip flops. The game begins. That image rubber sandals marking the boundary between in and out is not just nostalgia. It is the origin of one of football culture's most quietly significant relationships.

Havaianas and football were never officially introduced. They just always knew each other.

The brand has been woven into Brazilian football life since 1962 when it was created, born from the same streets where the world's most expressive football has always been played.

The first formal collision between Havaianas and football culture came in 1998. To celebrate the World Cup that year, they launched the Havaianas Brazil, a style with a small Brazilian flag on the strap. It remains one of the best-selling flip flop styles globally to this day.

Back in march they announced a collaboration with Vini-Jnr which is a natural fit for the brand

Which brings us to KidSuper.

KidSuper founder Colm Dillane travelled to Brazil to transform a public football pitch with his artwork ahead of the collaboration's launch, choosing the streets of São Paulo as the starting point of the story rather than beginning with the product itself.

The KidSuper x Havaianas flip flop is the latest in a long line of moments where the brand and the game have found each other naturally. Sometimes through a World Cup campaign, sometimes through a superstar's childhood memory, sometimes through two sandals on a concrete court serving as the only goalpost anyone needed.