

Ask HN: Ideas for how to sell 10,000 pairs of Flip Flops in 2 weeks? - nlwhittemore

Hey guys<p>I just wrote a story about a social entrepreneur who is building an ethically-sourced flip flop company.<p>Everything was going great, and Whole Foods was set to stock 10,000 pairs, when their shipment got stuck and delayed for two months because of the Oil Spill. By the time the shipment arrived, it was past the season when WF would stock a summer item.<p>As if this wasn't bad enough, part of the money that Feelgoodz would have made would have gone to repay a $50,000 loan, which was pre-allocated to another social business- an education software startup called Drop the Chalk.<p>Its looking unlikely that they're going to be able to meet the Aug 18th loan repayment deadline.<p>This is the most creative community I'm a part of, and my heart goes out to this guy, so I figured I'd ask all of you if you had ideas for how to move $10,000 flip flops in two weeks.<p>You can see more about the story here: http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/bp_oil_spill_claims_another_victim_an_aspiring_entrepreneur<p>Thanks
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Sukotto
Apply for restitution from BP

If you have a little more money for stickers you could sell them with Dubya or
Obama's face on them to areas that hate each of them.

Sell them as a back-to-school item form drom-dwelling college kids

If nothing else, you could donate them to charity for the tax write off

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fabiandesimone
Put them on sale on Shopify (<http://www.shopify.com/>) and give a small
percentage plus a final amount donation to <http://www.malarianomore.org/>

Get Ashton Kutcher or any other big Twitter celebrity
(<http://twitter.com/aplusk>) to promote it via Twitter (maybe his celebrity
friends can RT). He's been supportive of Malaria no more for a few years. Long
shot, but who knows.

I hope this helps.

~~~
nlwhittemore
Good idea!

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sabj
Apparently Flip Flops are in great demand for Haiti assistance. Raise money to
get them donated?

[http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-07-18/news/os-lk-
ha...](http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-07-18/news/os-lk-haiti-flip-
flops-hospital-worke20100718-1_1_flops-medical-care-medical-clinic)

~~~
wdewind
This sounds like a great idea:

Make a site that allows people to order a pair of flip flops, and
simultaneously donate a pair (like Tom's Shoes). Give them some kind of social
badge they can use on facebook etc., when they make the donation/purchase so
they can spread the word.

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briancary
Sell them directly through a Facebook Fan page. I'm cofounder of
<http://infusedindustries.com> \- we launched a store for Jelly Belly, and you
wouldn't believe the number of jellybeans we sold by discounting the store by
25% for several hours. Feelgoodz would get money directly - not us. Could
potentially sell thousands of flip flops through that channel by August 18 by
marking it down slightly. Email me brian at infusedindustries.com

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mahmud
eBay, and sell it in Bulk.

Contact dollar-store operators.

Sell them to hotels to give to their guests; for $2/pair, they can label it
"pool sandals".

Contact hospitals, retirement homes, and homeless shelters.

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tsmith
Go low-tech: stand outside a waterslide park.

Supply and demand.

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thailandstartup
I read a story about how some government organization in the UK was giving
them to drunk girls outside clubs to help them get home. Apparently, at the
end of boozy night, it's a lot easier to get home in a pair of flip flops.
Maybe that's a market.

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tomwalker
I agree with applying to BP for compensation.

Sell them at an airport- If you are able to convince someone there to let you
sell them for a few weeks, Im sure you could get $5 each.

A clever idea may be to highlight that it is for charity, and ask for a
"donation". Have a sign saying the recommended donation is £2 and I bet you
will get plenty of $5-10 donations.

This will also raise awareness

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sabj
How much did the flip flops cost each? Is it $10,000 worth of 10,000 flip
flops, or 10,000 flip flops at X cost?

Maybe people could help to sell them like a pledge drive - people could sign
up to sell them girl-scout cookie style, fundraising etc. Plug into people's
desire for arbitrage opportunities and charity.

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asanwal
A thought but perhaps a well-crafted Kickstarter campaign could be an option?
It wouldn't be people 'buying' into your business but they might be inclined
to help given the less than ideal situation.

Good luck.

~~~
jeffepp
For any $5 donation you could give the person a pair of sandals. Not a bad
idea!

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nkassis
See if you can get stores in places like Orlando Florida/Miami to stock them.
They will get sold quickly in those areas. Outlets and gifts store. I have no
clue how you could contact them.

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seasoup
A side question - BP has set aside billions to help people affected by the oil
spill, maybe they should reach out to BP to repay the loan or buy the flip
flops or something.

~~~
nlwhittemore
Good point. I think they actually have applied for this - but its expected to
take a significant amount of time to be all sorted out.

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nlwhittemore
I'm thinking:

-Flash sale sites -Big email lists

What else?

