You know those wonderful clogs, the ones you think come only from Dansko? Turns out the originator is the Danish company, Sanita ("we’ve been making cozy, comfortable clogs the Danish way since 1907"). If you're like me, you probably thought Dankso was the original. They've got a great story too and for a while the two companies had a strong partnership. Here's a bit of the history:
Since the early 1990s until August 2007, all Dansko Professional clogs and all Dansko Stapled Clogs had been manufactured by Sanita in Europe. The distribution agreement between Dansko and Sanita ended in August 2007. Shortly after that time, Sanita began distributing the same products directly in the US under their own name.
So what's the point? I had a pair of clogs that I loved -- brown, oiled leather -- that literally fell apart. I noticed this when I found chunks of the sole deposited throughout the house -- first from the heel, then from the toe. I thought this was rather unusual so I decided to contact the company to ask whether this was normal.
That's when I discovered that my Danskos were really Sanitas and...the lovely Sanita company was more than understanding and offered me a discount on a new pair of clogs, which I wasn't really seeking and which was kind of incredible since the clogs were at least seven years old. But alas when I went to use the discount, thank you very much, I found three pairs that I loved and couldn't figure out how to buy one at discount and the other two at full price. When I inquired, they said I could have all three at discount! Amazing! And generous!
One pair, the Darcy, which you can order here, continues to get compliments (the other two are regular ole' clogs, albeit in great colors--brown with red trim and steel gray) so here's a picture of it, an ad, if you will, because what they did is real customer service. And thank you to those customer service people at Sanita (Dan was one), whom I cannot write to personally because of this (such a sad face that there's no emoticon for it), which has resulted in my losing their emails. I promised I would write a post -- and I'm finally doing it.