No More Stinky Feet
No More Stinky Feet
How one Saratoga native turned her scented flip flop concept into a reality—all while helping her family battle cancer. PLUS: Noah Kahan in the Capital City, bachelorette party bounce houses and more.
Kim Naioti’s first foray into the entrepreneurial world came of necessity, but also because of cancer…and also thanks to a healthy dose of serendipity. Next Saturday, she’ll launch Stynkeez, her brand of coconut-scented, cork flip flops that, according to Instagram, “will change your world.”
“As a mom living near the beach with three kids and a stinky husband, it was inspired,” says Kim, who graduated from Saratoga Springs High School in 1992 and now lives with her family in Rye, NH. “I could smell flip flops across my house after a day at the beach.”
For at least 10 years, Kim ruminated on the idea of odor-fighting flip flops, until one day during the pandemic when she was sitting outside a hospital in Boston while her husband underwent radiation for prostate cancer.
“I was sitting on a bench, and a van drove by me with the name 52 Launch, which is a company that helps launch products,” she says. “I thought, ‘Is this a sign? I feel like I need to launch Stynkeez and see what happens.’” She called the number on the van, and the next day was on a Zoom call with the 52 Launch team.
Kim ran with her idea, developing the scent of the shoe (“I literally pulled an air freshener out of my kid’s car and said, ‘have it smell like this’”) and making sure it was comfortable, with product being shipped on boats back and forth from China. But right around the time she was finalizing the design, cancer struck her family again. This time, her then-15-year-old daughter, Karen, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive type of bone cancer. (Karen was named after Kim’s mom, who died of cancer at the age of 55.) “We kind of put Stynkeez on the back burner,” Kim says matter-of-factly, as if her teenage daughter’s bone cancer was just a bump in the road that her family would navigate. “But production still moved forward, and [the flip flops] showed up this past April.”
The product arrived around the time Karen was finishing up treatment, and just before—get this—doctors found that she had another unrelated form of cancer. “When she first got osteo, they did a scan and noticed a tiny nodule on her thyroid,” Kim says. “We were just able to look into that once chemo wrapped up in May, and they found that it was thyroid cancer.” This, Kim said almost as an aside, once again taking in stride the news that her previously healthy young daughter would again have to battle cancer, as she’d watched her husband do during his own five-year fight.
Luckily, thyroid cancer is more treatable—doctors will remove Karen’s thyroid on July 3 and then put her on medication. In the meantime, the family is gearing up for an end-of-chemo/Stynkeez launch party on June 10 at Kooks Café & Beach Bar in Rye, where Portsmouth-based artist Brett Wilson of the band Roots of Creation has volunteered to perform. While I doubt many Saratogians will make the four-hour trek to the ocean (save for Kim’s sister, Kristin, who lives in Queensbury), those who want to support the Naioti family can purchase a pair of flip flops on stynkeez.com; use the promo code OURHEROKAREN for 20 percent off. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to cancer care and research in the Boston area.
If you want to donate directly to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where both Nick and Karen received treatment, you can do so via the Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike-a-thon that Kim’s sister is participating in this September. Kristin’s team name is “I’m OK Karen.”
“When Karen was little, even before her cancer, no matter what happened, she was always ‘OK,’” says Kristin of the resilience her niece showed from a young age. Karen’s new motto? “Just keep smiling.”
—Natalie
Quote of the Week
“Every time there’s a f***ing spelling bee I’m sick.”
—a bitter Saratogian after missing Kings Tavern’s Sip and Spell and Thursday night’s showing of the Scripps National Spelling Bee at Bailey’s due to illness
Kahan I Take Your Order?
When burgeoning folk/pop star Noah Kahan (on left) was in Albany this week for his first of two Capital Region shows this summer, he stopped by Wizard Burger, where a sign outside the vegan restaurant declared that he’d eat for free. While he didn’t get a burger, he did order some sides, and—yes—they were free. The artist will return to the area for a show at SPAC on September 2.
Book Nook
Ed Mitzen, founder of Fingerpaint and Business for Good, has released his book Wealthy and White, which challenges the systemic advantages that white individuals have historically enjoyed in America and calls for crucial, proactive change by wealthy individuals to uplift others in society. For more information and to order the book, go to wealthyandwhite.com.
Haus Party
Who ever said bounce houses were just for kids? Last month, local mom Lizze Manski launched The Party Haus Company, a bounce house rental company for any event, from a child’s birthday to a bachelorette party…and anything in between. The all-white bounce houses make for the ultimate party photo op (bonus points if you trick them out with balloons by Adirondack Balloon Co!), and are available in a variety of sizes.
This Week in Saratoga Living After Hours
On Wednesday, we asked the question on every Saratoga tree-lover’s mind: Will the destructive spongy moth caterpillars be back this year?
From the Mag
Did you party down at the first-ever SPACtacular last night? Here’s everything you need to know about SPAC’s upcoming spectacular classical season.
Have you been eying the construction going on in the former Flatbread Social space? Here’s what going in (soon!).
The folks at Lucky Puppy are doing hero’s work for the area’s pups. Dog lovers, this is a must-read.
Save the Date
Next Thursday, Saratoga Living is teaming up with Sonny and Julie Bonacio to celebrate our 25th anniversary at a party at Putnam Place! Tickets are $35 and include dinner by West Ave Pizza (he’s bringing his famous pizza oven!), desserts by Sweet Mimi’s and a welcome drink by DeCrescente; DJ Dillon Robert will be keeping the dance floor moving all evening long. As a thank you to our most dedicated readers, we’re offering $25 tickets to paying subscribers when you use this promo code:
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