When it comes to creating comfort for our communities, our focus is on supporting young people to build the skills they need to unlock their potential and be a positive force in their communities. That is why we are so excited to have established a strategic partnership in the U.S. and Canada with Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS). BBBS is the preeminent youth mentoring organization in the U.S. with more than 230 local agencies serving over 5,000 communities across all 50 states,1 as well as over 1,100 communities across Canada.2 The organization thoughtfully matches adult volunteers, known as “Bigs,” with young people, or “Littles.” 3 The relationships between Bigs and Littles are designed to have lasting positive impacts on young people’s lives through mentoring, readiness and skills training, and access to new opportunities.
One third of youth in the United States say they don’t have a trusted adult in their lives,4 and global research suggests that less than half of young people are on track to build the skills they need to thrive in school, work and life.5 By partnering with BBBS, we believe that we can use the collective power of our Crocs and HEYDUDE brands, as well as the engagement of our employees, to help young people step up to their greatest potential and become catalysts for change in their communities.
One thing that makes this partnership unique is the way in which our employees, especially our Crocs and HEYDUDE retail employees, can engage with BBBS at the local level. Since the start of this partnership, retail employees from both brands have hosted people from local BBBS agencies, including Bigs and Littles, at their stores. Through these visits, Crocs and HEYDUDE retail associates learned about the impact they can have by supporting BBBS, both through opportunities to engage with young people themselves and through encouraging our fans to donate to BBBS at checkout.
Many Crocs and HEYDUDE employees have been involved in BBBS programming as a mentor or mentee prior to Crocs, Inc.’s launch of the partnership! We know how powerful these personal connections to community can be, and we are excited to continue to provide more opportunities for employee engagement in the BBBS partnership in 2025.
We know that our partnership with BBBS can have a much bigger impact with the help of our fans. That’s why, in November 2024, we launched donation opportunities for customers at checkout across all our Crocs and HEYDUDE retail stores in the U.S. and Canada. At launch, both brands committed to matching consumer donations made in stores until December 31st, 2024, up to $25,000 each. We are proud to say that our fans showed up, exceeding that amount and resulting in over $100,000 in total funds raised for BBBS in 2024, including our brands’ donations. We are excited for how the program is continuing to grow in 2025.
To kick off the partnership in style, throughout the months of December 2024 and January 2025, HEYDUDE also donated over 5,000 pairs of their iconic Wendy and Wally styles, and Crocs donated over 10,000 pairs of Crocs clogs to BBBS agencies across the US. We hope these donations help mentors and mentees step into January’s National Mentoring Month even more comfortable in their own shoes.
It’s not only our fans that are passionate about driving impact – it’s our brand partners, too. In 2024, we looked for opportunities to bring the partnership with BBBS to life even more, partnering with celebrities like Frederick “Flips” to do just that.
Crocs & Frederick “Flips” Richard
In October, one of our Crocs stores in Fort Worth, Texas hosted Olympic gymnast Frederick “Flips” Richard for a private event with BBBS mentees to talk about the importance of mentorship in following your dreams. Select mentors and mentees also received tickets to his Gold Over America Tour, which showcases athletic journeys of champions, like Frederick, for inspiration. Mentees walked away with wisdom that will ultimately help them grow confidence, open doors to new opportunities, and step up to their greatest potential.
1 Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Our Network by the Numbers: https://www.bbbs.org/national-office/
1 About Us, National Office. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America https://www.bbbs.org/national-office/
2 About Us. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, 2024. https://bigbrothersbigsisters.ca/about-us/
3 About Us. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, 2024. https://live-bbbsa.pantheonsite.io/about-us/ https://www.bbbs.org/about-us/
4 About Us. Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, 2024. https://www.bbbs.org/about-us/
5 Recovering Learning: Are children and youth on track in skills development?, UNICEF, 2022. https://www.unicef.org/media/123626/file/UNICEF_Recovering_Learning_Report_EN.pdf.pdf