The brand is but the latest in a string of shopworn or forgotten fashion labels that have been given a new life, having been positioned and marketed to attract the same consumers who embraced them in their heyday. It also helps that these names, which resonate with the original consumers' children and grandchildren, serve as markers that defined an era.

"What people are reacting to the most is that they had the best times of their lives in some of these brands," said Mickey Rosmarin, the Houston retailer who bought the rights to the Kork-Ease name last year and is just now distributing versions of the original cork-soled hippie sandals — the equivalent of today's flip-flops — to stores
across the country.