Timmerman’s Teva flip-flops were made in China for the company Deckers Outdoor. In June 2007, he goes to Deckers’ office near Guangzhou, China. Over the phone, Dindo, the office manager, talks to Pat Devaney, the vice president of Deckers’ Global Sourcing in California. Devaney accuses Timmerman of lying to visit a Chinese factory. He demands to know how he got the factory’s address, which is not public information. Timmerman spent months calling the Teva office before a staff member gave him the address. He took out a second mortgage to fund the trip and was denied entry when he turned up at the factory uninvited.

Dindo tells Timmerman that his flip-flops were made at the Irofa factory in the Pan Yu district. However, he claims that the factory is temporarily shut down due to scheduled blackouts.

Timmerman has loved flip-flops since wearing them as a SCUBA instructor in Key West, Florida. He associates them with fun activities and vacations. However, he realizes that workers in developing countries wear flip-flops because they are cheap and easy to repair.

Timmerman goes to a factory with his translator to talk to the workers outside. He meets a couple in their thirties, Zhu Chun and her husband, Dewan.