floats are Toe Ring (Toe Rings) is a specialty brand that was originally an order jewelry salon in Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, and has a track record of 38 years of jewelry production.
Toe Ring 15 years ago, when a customer requested custom-made toe rings, it was his first time working on toe rings.
As you know, metal toe rings can be painful depending on how you wear them, and the metal will bend when you wear them. There are only plain designs with stones because the stones come off when bending and stretching.
But if you're going to go to the trouble of decorating your feet, wouldn't it be better to choose something that's as cute as possible and shows off your feet beautifully? I started designing it with a rubber structure that fits perfectly with a gorgeous and large motif. However, even if it is made of rubber, if it is made of a rubber band, the design part will shake every time you walk, making it difficult to walk. (-_-;) After making many prototypes, we arrived at the current SP structure. ＼(^o^)／
Although it was an unlikely structure, we applied for a utility model and a patent, and when we were able to obtain both, we decided to launch a brand specializing in tow rings, and Floats was born.
The brand name was Floats! and it debuted in 2008 due to the use of transparent rubber for the arms, giving the impression that jewelry is floating on the toes! The number of designs has increased year by year and now exceeds 400, based on the sense of freedom that comes with toes.
Customers have said, ``I want to wear it on my fingers!'' or ``I already wear it on my hands!'' However, because transparent rubber is stretchy, there are problems with dirt adhesion and deterioration, making it unsuitable for hands and fingers.
At first, I was too particular that the arm part should be transparent like the toe ring, so I looked for a transparent material that wouldn't get dirty, and I set my sights on fiber optic material. We started prototyping to see if we could quickly process it into a coil shape, and the result was a floating ring, which you may or may not know of (-_-;).
However, this optical fiber has an image of being fragile and is often brought in for repair, so it was necessary to find a new material.
The coiled form of this optical fiber was suitable for size-free design, so I searched for a metal that could memorize its shape in a coiled form, even though it didn't have to be transparent, and I ended up finding a titanium alloy.However, titanium alloy is a pitch-black metal that is not suitable for the gorgeous jewelry that Floats is aiming for. I tried various things such as coating the titanium alloy with 18K gold, but I failed a lot. (´；ω；`)ｩｩｩ
Just when I was about to give up, I met someone from a manufacturing company. According to that person, it may be possible to fix it by peeling off the black film on the surface of titanium. I waited for the prototype to be completed. One step forward! ! !
However, since 18-karat gold was used at first, the color was close to copper and lacked luster, so it was not very beautiful. So I changed to 24k gold and it was a huge success! ＼(^o^)／
A piece of jewelry that combines durability and beauty was born.
*For those who have a floating ring
After November 2023, we will change to titanium alloy for free! ! We apologize for the inconvenience, but please bring it to the Omotesando Harajuku main store!
