Banks & Duck Built Different.
Cody Ulven of Sioux Falls has always been intrigued by the business side of everything, fixated on why things are the way they are. One topic that kept him up at night was Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) slides. Every retail store he entered, he says he automatically noticed the popular slip-on sandals taking over shelf space. “From higher end retail stores, to Walmart , Costco , and Target —everyone seemed to have their own version of EVA slides, and they all looked very similar,” said Ulven. “Plus, everyone was wearing them.” EVA slides are known for their casual, waterproof design, but the entrepreneur wanted to know more. Ulven says he became obsessed with how they were made and what the difference was between off-brand and name brands. Cosmetically there was very little difference, and the material felt the same. Ulven says he didn’t understand why consumers were willing to shell out cash
for certain brands, but others grabbed the cheap Joe Schmo version. “I understand how a brand can influence price, however, my simple brain couldn’t understand a five-six times price increase for two products that looked and felt so similar,” he explained. “I thought there had to be some sort of internal component (other than brand) I wasn’t seeing.” Ulven cut open both pairs with a box cutter to see if there was some sort of unseen structural component to justify that kind of a price difference. There wasn’t. “The price premium was simply related to the brand,” he recalled. “I was shocked.” He wondered why all of the products were molded to look like they had a separate upper, midsole, and sole, and why they weren’t built where there was actual separation between them. Ulven started calling around to different manufacturers to ask if that idea and concept was possible.
The answer in the United States was “no.”
WRITTEN BY ALANA SNYDER AND PHOTOS BY JOHN SNYDER AND EDITED BY KAYLA JOHNSON
LIFESTYLE ISSUE august 2026
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