Rainbow Sandals turns 50: Celebrating a flip flop with soul  

Jay “Sparky” Longley swiftly swipes the brown sandal’s edges across a speeding sander – back and forth, up and down – gently grinding all the sides until the flip flop feels just right.

“It’s an art form,” Longley said with a smile, running his fingertip across the footwear, feeling for any rough edges. “That is a beautiful thing.”

Longley has this art down to a science – and it’s no wonder since he’s been making Rainbow Sandals at the same San Clemente shop for 50 years – a career that started with the early-era surfer wanting an alternative to the cheap sandals that were snapping as he trudged across the sand.

What Longley created wasn’t just a sandal that lasts for years, but a product that can continue its journey long after the original owner wears the shoe down, giving it a second life helping a person in need.

And while building a successful brand, Longley has quietly given away millions of dollars and millions of pounds of food through the years, supporting nonprofits spanning from food banks to women’s shelters, as well as community groups helping kids explore the ocean and countless other charities that assist people in need.

“I would never retire,” Longley said one recent day while getting ready for a party to mark the 50-year milestone of opening his first shop in San Clemente, a celebration that included giving away $50,000 to local charities for his 80th birthday. “Why would I do that, when I could help someone else?”

A spunky Sparky

Longley’s early years were spent in Minnesota, where the 2-year-old youngster would spend hours transfixed by a radio show, “Big Jon and Sparkie,“ long before televisions were a household item.

“I wanted to do whatever he did,” Longley said about the origin of his nickname, Sparky.  “I was adventurous.”

The nickname followed him to Corona del Mar when his father, a medic for the Navy, was transferred when Longley was 9.

“Adventurous” is an understatement, childhood friend Phil Bonde said.

The word “wild” comes to mind, he said, recalling Longley’s shenanigans, including being kicked out of Harbor View Elementary School in fifth grade for picking up a skunk by the tail.

But along with his mischievous streak was a compassionate side. Bonde, who grew up with meager means, said when he would go to school hungry, his best friend always gave him lunch money.

“He’s always been a very generous individual,” Bonde said.

At a young age, Longley was drawn to the ocean, riding waves in Corona del Mar, Dana Point and Lower Trestles, back before the masses took up the sport.

In his 20s, Longley worked sanding surfboard rails for shapers such as Joe Quigg and Dale Velzy. Also an avid skier, he opened Ski Mart in Newport Beach for a stint.

But after years of doing odd jobs, Longley yearned to start his own business. He knew he was good with his hands and had an entrepreneur’s work ethic.

He also remembered all the busted flip flops left behind on the sand – a pet peeve for Longley, who was always bothered by waste piling up at landfills and at his playground, the beach.

That’s when he came up with the idea to create a footwear that surfers could wear while searching for waves – a sandal that would last.

“I wanted to do something a long time ago that you could recycle and not throw away,” he said.

A surfer’s sandal

By his late 20s, Longley was tinkering in his Laguna Beach garage, making sandals with a soft rubber material used for toy race cars.

He created his own glue and learned to sew on the strap that wedges between the toes to make it sturdy, buying for $140 a machine used in World War II for stitching parachutes.

“It was the worst machine ever,” he said, “but it got the job done.”

He wanted to sell the sandals at an arts festival in Laguna Beach, but wasn’t accepted as a vendor, so he set up in the parking lot. Festival organizers weren’t pleased, he said, suggesting he go down to San Clemente with his business.

“Back then, San Clemente was a million miles away,” he recalled. “There was just nobody.”

But he did end up in the surf town.

It was in 1974 that he found a manufacturing spot on Los Molinos in San Clemente that had a sign for $250 a month for rent.

“I had no tools, nothing,” he said.  “I did everything myself.”

But he did know people with stores, including fellow surfer Hobie Alter, who started Hobie Surf Shop in nearby Dana Point with business partner Dick Metz. They were skeptical the sandals would sell, so agreed to hold six of them in the shop on consignment. Longley would only get paid if the sandals sold.

“They all sold. Then I’d give him 10 pairs, he’d call up and say, give me 20, and then give me 40,” Longley said. “We had a good reputation, the thing would last and people got the value of it.”

As surfing started to grow, so did word of the flip flops that would last.

Legendary surfer Gerry Lopez, at a recent birthday party at Longley’s Dana Point home, said he can’t believe 50 years has passed since his surfing buddy started making the now-popular sandals.

Lopez recalls taking a surf trip to Bali in the early ’70s and noticing the Rainbow Sandals worn by Walter Hoffman, another Dana Point icon.

“I tried to steal them from him even though they were too big, I thought I could reshape them,” Lopez said with a smirk.

“Back then, there weren’t any good, quality sandals,” he said. “We never wore shoes, we were barefoot. No one was going to wear shoes to the beach, there weren’t any good sandals until Sparky started making them.”

Lopez still remembers that first pair his friend made for him – the sandals endured years of surf trips.

“It was not something that was an instant success,” Lopez said, noting it was the hard-core surfers who were the early adapters.

Thinking about the longevity of the brand, especially in the ever-changing surf industry, Lopez said, “Rainbow is still here, better than ever.

“It took a while. It took a lot of work, it was a small business for years and years and years,” Lopez said. “But it was his business.”

Sales really took off in the ’80s. Offers to buy the business came flooding in.

“What are you going to do?” Lopez remembers asking his friend.

“I like making sandals,” Longley responded. “I don’t care about the money, I have enough money.”

What he cared about, however, was making enough money to give away to others in need.

Giving back

The long-lasting sandals became a bragging right, customers boasting they had the same pair for five, 10, 15, 20 years.

“In life, you want to do the best you can, you want to try your hardest to do something well, to give something back to society,” Longley said. “And do something that doesn’t hurt Mother Earth, so you don’t ever see it in a landfill.”

Even after the life of a Rainbow Sandal seems near its end, customers can send the worn-down shoes back to the shop, where employees and Longley fix them up, soaking them in bleach and vinegar, to be given to people in need.

The recycled shoes end up in churches and shelters and on the feet of children around the world.

Longley’s philanthropy goes beyond donating sandals.

He’s donated millions of dollars to local charities.  He and his wife, Chanya, have built two large meditation centers in Thailand and Idaho.

He spends Friday nights personally packing avocados and oranges brought from area farms to Rainbow Sandals’  corporate headquarters, also in San Clemente, and drives tens of thousands of pounds of the produce to food donation centers and soup kitchens.

“You need to be able to give and not want anything back,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who need help.”

Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching manager Donna Kalez said when she started the Gray Whale Foundation 15 years ago, Longley was one of the first to donate to the nonprofit that takes Capistrano Unified students out on ocean field trips. He’s still giving thousands of dollars each year, she said.

“He’s really focused on his community, it’s so amazing,” she said.

At a party held at the same San Clemente location where Longley set up shop 50 years ago – it serves as both a production facility and retail store – friends, long-time customers, even local dignitaries showed up to celebrate the milestone.

Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley gave Longley a county certificate of recognition honoring the longtime, local businessman.

“He was promoting sustainability long before anybody was talking about that as a trend or movement,” she said. “Recycling, repurposing the sandals and making sure to give back. He gives so much to the kids, people suffering in poverty. He just does so much, he’s a great role model.”

San Clemente Councilmember Mark Enmeier called Longley a “pillar of the community.”

Enmeier said he remembers his own first pair of Rainbow Sandals, bought in the ninth grade, lasting through his college years, even wearing them throughout Italy during a months-long study abroad trip.

“They are durable, they last,” he said. “More than that, he gives back so much and that’s something as a city we are so proud of.

“He could have taken this and moved somewhere else, but he kept his roots in San Clemente,” Enmeier said. “Rainbow Sandals and San Clemente are synonymous.”

Longley gave a tour of the operation on a recent day, where 80 people are employed, showing how the Brazilian leather is cut out, the sole of the sandals glued together, the straps put in place and the edges sanded down – a process that has been perfected through the decades.

Today, there’s an estimated 1 million Rainbow Sandals made each year, some at the San Clemente production facility, others assembled abroad. New products and styles are introduced each year to keep with the times. A new line of dog collars and leashes using recycled materials is in the works.

But at its soul, it’s still the same sandal Longley created five decades ago.

“It’s the same place, the same machines – the same everything for 50 years,” Longley said, looking around the tiki-decorated building, adorn with decades-old memorabilia. “It’s fun, making something good is fun. Doing the right thing is fun.”