the brothers blog

As brothers we thought this was awesome... We have been in LA and we came across the Meistrell Brothers who invented the wet suit.

A few years ago we had a vision only us brothers could see at the time, never did we think that Gandys & Orphans for Orphans would be recognised in this way. We still feel we have only just started our journey & wish to open many more kids campus's. Rob & Paul

Mum & Dad - This one is for you!

I asked my brother Paul to leave Australia a few years ago to come back & help with an idea to design flip flops that would allow us help build a children's home in memory of our parents who we lost in the boxing day tsunami.

After all the travelling & volunteering and the sacrifice of their lives they made to save our youngest siblings we have worked day and night to make this idea become reality. The people of Sri Lanka also helped us get to safety,we were only kids at the time so this is why we have returned to open the first Gandys Kids Campus which will hopefully see other kids in 10 years time reach their own dreams.

Some siblings can grow apart as you get older & take your own paths but we have only got stronger and have given everything since the moment of survival 10 years ago to get our youngest siblings home to now helping these children for a better future. The last few years have been hard work but wouldn't have changed it for the World and it is great to say that we have now achieved this with each other. Hopefully this is just the start & we thank all of those who have helped us on our journey and shown us the support and encouragement to make this happen.

Rob & Paul - Orphans for Orphans

PS For all of you at home this festive season with your nearest & dearest please share your very own #SiblingSelfie

Has anyone broken their resolution yet? We have one worth following...

A few of the children that the Gandys Kids Campus will be supporting took part in a beautiful show to celebrate the building of their home :)

3 Weeks on from starting the build, we seem to have made some incredible progress, this couldn't have happened without the help of you all, Thank you... Rob & Paul

After having the Land Blessed and prepared for building work to commence we are proud to show you the progress of the Kids Campus. The local community have really put amazed us with the building of this beautiful Kids Campus, looks like we will be opening our very first campus very soon.

17th November 2014 was the official launch date for the Gandys Brothers book, Tsunami Kids. The Book Launch was held at 5th view in Piccadilly.

Its days like today that makes us love what we do! The local community and children have had a ceremony to bless the land and the building of our Kids Campus. Thank you to all those who have supported us on our journey it wouldn't be possible without you. Rob & Paul

On Boxing Day 2004, Rob, Paul, Matty and Rosie Forkan lost their parents in the tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka. This is an enthralling, harrowing but ultimately uplifting journey from the slums of India and the tsunami, to the boardrooms of the City of London, Downing Street and beyond.

Rob & Paul were asked to go on BBC World News to talk about Their new book that shares their journey through life so far and most importantly building their first Kids Campus.

Super excited to announce we now have the land to build our very own first kids campus that will be helping the lives of around 400 people. The land is in an town called "Mau Gama" which actually means "Mothers Village". Thank you too all those who continue to support us on our journey - Rob & Paul

Happy Halloween from Gandys!

Today we saw Rob & Paul on BBC Breakfast live speaking about their journey to becoming a Global Brand...

Rob & Paul Sporting their Liberty & Serge DeNimes Prints...

Crazy to think that only 2 years ago we were in a bedroom by ourselves and a year ago everyone was in our kitchen. A year ago we moved into Gandys HQ and we now have a great team helping us on our journey... Rob & Paul

Bedroom in Brixton

Kitchen in Clapham

Studio in Southfields

This weekend we enjoyed V Festival in the Louder Lounge area, soaking up the British summer sun and strolling around in our flip flops. The amazing headliners to watch were Justin Timberlake all the way from America, home grown Ed Sheeran and The Killers who all took the stage by storm and performed some absolute show stoppers.

On Wednesday 9th July 2014 Rob and Paul were invited to Buckingham Palace for the launch of The Queen’s Young Leaders program. In true Gandys fashion Rob & Paul Rocked up to the Palace wearing their favourite Liberty Printed Flip Flops.

Their inspirational story attracted the attention of the Royal’s. Rob & Paul Explained their journey to the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry (who had already heard of Gandys) about their vision to open Children’s Home in Developing Countries Across the world.

The Duke had told the brothers “That he had lost his mum at the age of 15 but there was always a silver lining and you should dust yourself off and carry on” He applauded what the brothers have achieved and said “keep up the good work” having Married back in 2011 and in 2013 having the arrival of Prince George, The Duke had certainly found his silver lining.

Joey Belladonna (Anthrax), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden) and Keith Flint (Prodigy) were all seen donning their flip flops this weekend as Gandys took heavy metal festival Sonisphere by storm.

With the British sun shining through the clouds and not too much mud in sight, Gandys were the flip flop of choice at the stunning Knebworth Park in Stevenage.

Popular ranges with the rock stars were our Studs range and collaboration with Ollie Proudlock’s Serge DeNimes range.

Take a look at some of the celebrities we spotted backstage freeing their feet with our SS14 flip flop ranges.

Gary Numan’s guitarist Tim Muddiman in Ibiza Black from our Originals range and actress Tania Emery in Peacock White from the Serge DeNimes range.

Richie Kotzen from The Winery Dogs in our Bandana style from our Serge DeNimes range.

Joe Duplantier and brother Mario Duplantier from Gojira in Peacock White and Bandana from our Serge DeNimes collection.

Jed Elliot from The Struts in our gold circle studs range.

In celebration of our exciting collaboration, as well as International Flip Flop Day....

The Gandys / Liberty window is now officially up!

If you happen to find yourself in central London go on by check it out and tell us what you think! How 'bout snapping a photo of yourself in front of the window tagging #orphansfororphans at @gandysflipflops...

and if you're in the shopping mood head on inside and you'll see even more of Gandys in menswear and ladieswear...go on then!

#orphansfororphans

This Friday we will be celebrating International Flip Flop Day...the greatest day in our calendar!

International Flip Flop Day is a global initiative to raise funds for Gandys' registered charity, The Gandys Foundation, which drives our "Orphans for Orphans" mission. By coming together on this day and wearing your flip flops you'll be helping to raise donations and awareness for The Gandys Foundation and help bring us closer to building our first children's home at the end of this year!

4 easy ways to get involved:

1) Wear your flip flops on June 20th

2) Snap a photo of yourself wearing your flip flops and share with the world #orphansfororphans

3) Make a £2 donation by texting Flop14£2 to 70070

4) Purchase your Gandys at www.gandysflipflops.com and for every purchase made on the 20th Gandys will donate an extra £5 to The Gandys Foundation

JOIN THE JOURNEY and FREE YOUR FEET on Friday!

Yesterday we had the lovely finalists of the "Gandys Den" come down to present their unique flip flop designs to Rob and Paul. Gandys Den has been launched in partnership with the Hampshire Cricket Community Trust in order to give young kids across Hampshire the opportunity to create and present their own unique flip flop design to the brothers with the winning design being presented in front of 24,000 people at the England v. India test match at the Ageas Bowl in July. The winning designs will also be put into production!

It was a great day, the presentations were all very impressive and the kids showed a ton of confidence, imagination and entrepreneurial spirit! The brothers thought all of the final designs were incredibly creative and want to try and get them all on the high street.

In the end though, the winning design was Hampshire Ruby! Their design had the edge as it was cricket-inspired and with the upcoming Summer cricket season it was definitely the right place and the right time. The designs were all incredibly well thought out and presented and it was most certainly a close competition!

Thank you so much to all of the participants for your hard work and creativity!!

It's that time of year friends. The sun is coming out more regularly, the temps are slowly rising and it is most definitely FLIP FLOP TIME. Which in other words really just means it's GANDYS time. Keep your eyes peeled this season as you stroll past shops to stock up on all of your necessary Summer accessories... You might just spot a window like this! This one is at Fenwick Brentcross Shopping Centre so pop round and check it out!

Last night was our Serge 4 Gandys Launch event at the amazing Grand Union in Brixton. The occasional spurts of rain did NOTHING to dampen everyone's spirits and as the garden filled up to absolute capacity The Loveable Rogues performed an awesome set for the crowds! Everyone was buzzing with excitement and Rekorderlig and Black Cow Vodka kindly provided all the drinks. The night was a huge success thanks to everyone who came down, thank you!!

This week our Accessorize for Gandys range travelled to the golden beaches of St. Lucia in a stunning editorial spread that was featured in You Magazine. The light, airy and free-spirited vibe of the shoot perfectly represents the aesthetic of the collection we think. Feast your eyes on these stunners.

We really do. I mean c'mon…it's Liberty. The epitome of British heritage and luxury in the retail world. So to be working with Liberty Art Fabrics on a set of designs has been, in a word, Epic. At the beginning of this year Rob and Paul headed down to Liberty to choose some of their world famous prints. Check out what we've come up with since then!

It is very important here at Gandys that the entire flip flop making process from factory to foot is ethical, efficient and as environmentally friendly as possible.

Which is why we spend a lot of time selecting factories that we trust. Rob just returned from a two week trip to China where he was doing just this, checking up on production and making sure that things were all in line!

Whilst over there he spent a lot of time on the road, so naturally, like any good traveler, he hopped out of the car for some great photo opps. Wouldn't you?

Excited that in a few weeks the Accessorize collaboration will be launching into shops around the world.

Random fact but our first ever pair of Gandys were purchased by someone in Germany via a facebook post! We now have Breuninger one of Germany's finest department stores on board with us for this summer! Rob & Paul