For Paul and Rob Forkan footwear doesn’t just mean service or comfort. They are reminders of a traumatic episode in their life — one they turned into a positive emotion and a mission ...
The Forkans — Paul, Rob, their parents Kevin and Sandra, and two younger siblings Mattie and Rosie — were spending Christmas in Galle, Sri Lanka in 2004, when the tsunami literally swept their life away. Paul and Rob, then 15 and 17 respectively, lost their parents who had somehow managed to get Mattie and Rosie to a safe place.
They walked 200 kilometres to the nearest airport with no shoes, no money and no documents. However, they did not allow their shoeless state to remind them of the tragedy but the carefreeness, the laid back approach, their parents had taught them.
In 2001, philanthropists Kevin and Sandra had taken a decision to sell off their fashion business and travel with their four younger children to Asia, mainly the Indian sub-continent. They were keen to raise their children with an unconventional education system so that they received a deeper understanding of the world. They took the children out of school and enrolled them in the “university of life” — and the wonders that has done is quite evident today.
Even though they have no college education — though Rob has a GCSE — about two years ago, Rob and Paul started Gandys, a flip-flop brand that’s committed to raise money to help fellow orphans around the world, especially in Sri Lanka and India. They are working with international retailer Accessorise on philanthropic projects in Sri Lanka and are in the process of building an orphanage in Goa, India.
Not only did the tsunami make them “fearless”, as they have confessed earlier, their travels “opened us to different cultures, taught us to communicate with different people,” Rob told The weekend tabloid!.
“Our alternative upbringing is what has led us to what we have been doing. It’s only the ‘get up and go’ attitude we were given as kids that has made a lot of things we do, and we have done, possible. Such as, working with someone such as Sir Richard Branson, our first collaborator. It has taught us to think outside the box”.
Rob had just returned to Britain from “an incredible yet emotional trip” to Sri Lanka with Paul. They’d visited their projects, tried teaching children, played football with them and generally had some fun, as you’ll find if you read their blog.
Gandys is not really the first “shop a little, give a little” project you would come across, though. You have Toms shoes, Warby Parker eyewear, BoGoLight just to name a few. The reason why they chose flip-flops as their product was because of its universal appeal, even though they were told they were “crazy” to launch flip-flops in a place such as England.
At present, the footwear is available at stores such as Selfridges, House of Fraser, Asos and Sole Trader. In the Middle East they will be available from next spring with Accessorise and other retailers.
“We spend a lot of time travelling and it’s a common kind of thing you would wear to the beach or when backpacking. It’s the footwear of choice in southeast Asia and the Indian sub-continent. It’s something we wear all the time. So, it made sense,” explained Rob. And you’ll find the brothers wearing them all the time, even at formal events.
Their advertising campaign does not involve a star or a known model. For them everyone who wears a Gandys is a brand ambassador.
“We didn’t want only one person involved. Anyone can get involved. We want them all as brand ambassadors to help spread our message. In fact, we want 230,000 brand ambassadors, the number of people who were lost in the tsunami.”
As for the name, there’s a funny story. Rob said he woke up one morning with “a mouth like Gandhi’s flip-flop” and the idea was born.
“It’s kind of this urban English term,” laughed Rob. “Totally random but we thought the name would work quite well. We’ve lived in India for so many years I know what ‘Gandhi’ means. But, of course, we changed the spelling because we didn’t want to be controversial”.
Their roles at Gandys are quite mixed, informed Rob. While he does marketing, logistics and production, Paul handles sales. Both of them are involved in designing. Younger brother Mattie is now a designer and helped with the company’s logo.
“We put a footprint in our logo to represent Footprints in the Sand, our Mum’s favourite poem, and to taking a step in the right direction. We also put a Kingfisher in the logo as it was our Dad’s favourite [beverage] whilst in India, and we felt that lots of bright colours showed our vibrant upbringing”, read Rob and Paul’s blog.
Rob and Paul are the third and fourth siblings from a set of six. Marie, the eldest, who had stayed in the UK that year, received custody of her siblings after her parents’ death and probably turn from a carefree young woman into a mother of five.
“We’ve all tried to keep busy. Rosie is still studying, Mattie is a designer, one of our sisters is studying law, and the other is working. And Paul and I are busy with Gandys.”
They are also working on a book about their experiences with a ghostwriter, all profits from which will go to their Orphans For Orphans foundation. They are determined to find a positive end to their tragedy, to honour the spirit of their parents and give them peace in the process.
“All we want to say is don’t let a negative situation hold you back. Turn into positive,” said Rob. “That’s what we are trying to do. The whole concept for creating a global brand is to create a global project with children all around the world.”
