Havaianas has done something to its most recognizable shoe that few would have predicted: it put the flip-flop on a heel. The Brazilian brand unveiled its first-ever kitten-heel silhouette during Copenhagen Fashion Week, sending the design down Studio Constance's Spring/Summer 2027 runway on August 5. The shoe keeps the rubber, toe-post construction Havaianas is known for, but raises the back onto a low sculptural heel—and appeared in black, off-white, and bright green.
This isn't a sandal with a heel bolted on. It's a deliberate reinterpretation of the brand's core product. The new design reinterprets Havaianas' signature toe-post construction with a distinctive toe cap that conceals only the big toe, and sits on a low, asymmetric, elliptical heel measuring around two inches, while retaining the brand's signature rubber insole.
Havaianas… but not how you think of them 👀
— HYPEBEAST (@HYPEBEAST) August 7, 2026
The brand’s first-ever heeled silhouette landed at Copenhagen Fashion Week. pic.twitter.com/TXgOQIjMwk
Most of what makes a Havaiana recognizable is still there. The thong-style upper, the rubber material, the minimal overall shape, and even the traditional rice-grain texture found on classic models all remain. What changes is the one feature most associated with the flip-flop: its completely flat sole. In its place is a low, curved heel and a more sculptural profile, with a molded toe cap that reads almost like a closed shoe from a distance. The contrast between the flat original and the raised version is the entire visual argument.
The timing is what makes the shoe feel inevitable rather than gimmicky. Two of 2026's biggest footwear directions have collided in one design. Flip-flops have spent the past two years clawing their way out of beachwear and onto runways, worn with dresses, tailoring, trousers, and minimalist summer looks—the heeled thong sandal has officially become this year's most unexpected It-shoe. At the same time, kitten heels have continued to appear across pumps, slingbacks, mules, and sandals. Havaianas didn't invent either trend, but it has fused them in a particularly recognizable form.
Copenhagen was the natural place to do it. The heeled Havaianas debuted through Studio Constance's Spring/Summer 2027 presentation, and the Danish capital has become the industry's testing ground for experimental but wearable ideas—the same runways that recently reintroduced Mary Jane trainers and pillbox hats. The Studio Constance show featured Havaianas sandals across all 25 looks, combining the new silhouette with selected classic flip-flop styles. Global vice president of marketing Maria Fernanda Albuquerque explained the choice of venue directly: "Havaianas has built a very natural relationship with Copenhagen Fashion Week over the past seasons. We have seen the brand embraced organically by the fashion community, and this felt like the right moment."
The heel changes the shoe's entire mood. A flat flip-flop reads immediately as casual; even a modest lift alters posture, foot position, the line of the leg, and the shoe's level of formality. The result sits somewhere between a beach sandal and a dress shoe, and that in-between quality is what makes it interesting—not any claim that it's more comfortable or practical than the original.
The kitten heel didn't emerge from nowhere. Havaianas describes it as a considered evolution rather than a departure. "The Kitten Heel represents a new design perspective for Havaianas, while remaining true to the ease, authenticity, and Brazilian spirit that have always defined the brand," Albuquerque said in a statement. The brand has spent recent seasons pushing beyond the standard rubber sandal, and this is the most dramatic reshaping yet.
It also fits a much bigger shift in footwear. 2026 has been defined by familiar silhouettes being altered rather than replaced—heeled flip-flops, jelly shoes, wedges, mesh flats, ballet flats, and sculptural kitten heels all trade on recognition while changing proportion or material. There's also a more specific current the shoe taps into: the fashion world's ongoing fixation on toes, from Tabi splits to toe rings. A concealed-toe rubber heel merges that obsession with the most ordinary beach shoe imaginable. Havaianas gets its effect from one small change with an outsized result—raising the heel.
Styling did as much work as the design. The heeled flip-flop was not shown as beachwear; it appeared alongside fashion-forward clothing, styled with everything from avant-garde dresses to relaxed summer looks. That context is central to how formerly casual footwear gets rehabilitated—the same thong shape reads entirely differently next to sheer dresses, tailoring, or longer skirts. The shoe also traveled beyond the runway almost immediately. Emili Sindlev and Livia Nunes both wore the style on Copenhagen's streets during the week, with Nunes spotted riding a Havaianas bicycle customized with the Kitten Heel in place of traditional pedals.
For all the buzz, a few things remain unconfirmed. There is no official word yet on when the Havaianas Kitten Heel will launch, and the brand has not detailed retail pricing, global availability, additional colorways, or whether the shoe will enter permanent production. Those details will have to wait for an official announcement.
What's clear is that Havaianas didn't radically redesign its signature sandal. The toe post, the rubber construction, the recognizable upper—all intact. The new kitten heel works precisely because the starting point is so familiar. A couple of inches of height is enough to make one of summer's most ordinary shoes feel strange, and new, all over again.
