On January 11, 2016 my brother Skip Johnson took his own life.

Since that day I’ve been searching for answers… I have had to search deeper inside of myself than ever before. But this was exactly what I needed to realize how amazing and truly what a gift life is. We are born into this world with the gift of our physical bodies and beating hearts.

Through my product we will create a brand that is loud, proud, and will signify healing and Unity. On the soul of the shoe is my brothers name, the brand name of our shoe SkipsFlips when you walk across the earth you will leave a legacy, one of a warrior who fought his own battle inside of his head but lost. Individuals that have lost his battle do not deserve to be forgotten, rather they should be remembered for what they had to endure in their lives. Our current system is broken, we treat symptoms, we don’t treat the actual root cause.

Through my product culture and foundation I will afford sending individuals or groups into outside of the box, growth mindset, inner fire type retreats built to inspire change from within.

Healing through humanity and nature is my goal.

This is based from my own experience traveling to Poland to meet Wim Hof, sit in ice cold water, summit a mountain half naked in the snow, and learn about an amazing breathing technique, all amongst some of the most amazing people on this planet who also were dealing with their own traumas.

This provided the perspective I needed to realize that the world is full of opportunities and everybody’s got challenges and it is within my own power to create my own reality. But not alone, through community.

My apparel/flip-flop brand is called SkipsFlips. My nonprofit foundation is Skip‘s Foundation. We appreciate any support you can provide in getting our name out there and letting others know what we are trying to accomplish. We want to create a community not based on idolization but on providing belief, self growth, and realization of potential.

I’m gonna tell you a quick story about how the @skips_flips mission came to be. Pictured here are my business partner and I, both of us Ryans… Ryan squared I guess? In January 2020 he had invited me out to a retreat in Poland. From an outsider looking in, this appeared to be some sort of extreme trip for only a crazy man. That’s why I said yes!!! I was still sort of coming out of my own depression. After my brother Skip Johnson‘s death I had my own sort of spiral of grief. Going into this retreat, I was thinking this was going to be an absolutely crazy testosterone filled weekend. 

Well…

I left with an absolute, completely, and profoundly different experience from my expectations of this retreat. This retreat took me out of my bubble of grief, introduced me to absolutely wonderful people, New ways of thought, and challenged my mindset and beliefs. I found myself leaving in growth mindset. After this experience I thought to myself how can we re-create this experience to potentially help others through their grief, their depression, their anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Ryan (Mickle as we call him) came up with the idea of scholarships, so we went from there and we decided we would take 10% of every Skip’s purchase and put it into a scholarship program to provide others in need with this type of growth mindset/spiritual retreat experience. We hope that as we get the word out… which we need your help to do, we can all contribute to more people’s well-being through this method of non-conventional, individual medicine. #SuicidePrevention#MentalHealthAwareness#MentalHealth #PhysicalHealth#Adventures #MindsetMedicine#Mindset #Growth #endthestigma

As a part of my transformation I began running to find peace. This helped me maintain a healthy body but most importantly, helped me to maintain a healthy mind. While competing in runs, I ran into a new ultra comfy, high support, style of flip-flop. Skip's were designed to be supportive and supple, with two arches, perfect as an athletic recovery sandal.

These aren't just sandals. They aren't the boring brown or black kind. They get attention. They start conversations with strangers. They make us all connected.