Leather gloves and baseball have always been synonymous, and starting this spring, fans of Hari Mari flip flops can get the leather used on Nokona baseball mitts via a special release. The Hari Mari x Nokona collection of men’s flip flops will feature full-grain leather from the 82-year-old Texas-based high-end glove maker. The footwear, priced at $110, will be available at a few of Hari Mari’s brick-and-mortar retailers and HariMari.com, as well as with online partner HuckBerry.com. Hari Mari co-Founder Jeremy Stewart said of the genesis for the idea of linking up with Nokona, “Well I knew about Nokona gloves from playing in high school and they were always super nice. Fast forward 20 years and we were searching for a partner that made great leather products. One of our employees brought a Nokona baseball glove in one day and it just clicked. I couldn’t believe we hadn’t thought of that company! So I picked up the phone and called their CEO.” Hari Mari is poised next year to introduce the flip flops in boys and adolescent sizes, as well as a line for women. Stewart: “We’ve seen overwhelming demand from women wanting these flip flops.”
DIGGING COLE: To help promote the deal, Texas-based Hari Mari has signed up Rangers P Cole Hamels as a brand ambassador. While the brand has done a Mavericks-specific flip flop in the past, Hamels is Hari Mari’s first athlete spokesperson. Aside from being a big-name MLBer, Stewart liked the charitable similarities between The Hamels Foundation, which targets education opportunities, and Flops Fighting Cancer, which receives 1% of all sales from Hari Mari in its effort to fight pediatric cancer. Stewart: “To have him on board is an added bonus, especially having now met him and his wife Heidi and seeing what they do off the field.” Hamels will be donating 100% of his spokesperson fee from the Hari Mari deal to his eponymous foundation. JTK Talent Owner Todd Krumholz made the connection with Hamels and Hari Mari.
