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The colourful clog that is all the rage
The Ottawa Citizen, Sep 24, 2005
The seemingly endless summer we have enjoyed this year has Ottawans thinking they may never have to relegate their summer footwear to the far corners of their closets. And those who sport Crocs — this summer’s ugly but irresistible clog — are rejoicing. Since the foamy footwear just hit the city this year, Croc wearers are still in the early stages of their love affairs.
And why not? The Colorado-born clogs come in multiple styles and colours. The Beach, a version with holes in the top, providing breathability and easy escapes for sand collected on its namesake, is hottest in Ottawa. Stores, such as Irving Rivers in the Byward Market, have had a hard time keeping the colourful shoes — yes, everything from Pepto-Bismol pink to lime green — in stock.
Stylish? You bet. They’ve even made their way into the halls of power. Just as flip-flops hit the White House this summer, Crocs have infiltrated the Prime Minister’s Office. But unlike the thongs four Lacrosse players wore when photographed with President George W. Bush, Crocs are actually welcomed at the Langevin Building. Even the PM himself knows the evangelical Croc pitch and his handlers have discussed what colours would best suit him.
His handlers are, after all, Croc converts. PMO operations guru Sayla Nordin first heard about them from her mother who has worn Birkenstocks forever and called Crocs “the ultimate summer alternative”. Her aunt, meanwhile, “swooned about the comfort factor” and “raved about the colour choice.”
Nordin wears her “mushed banana”-coloured Crocs with her classic black suit and says they’re perfect for garden parties at 24 Sussex Dr.
PEI-native Melissa MacInnis, a senior special assistant at the PMO, discovered “Crocmania” on the island this summer. She was hooked from the minute she slipped her tiny foot into her sister’s pair. Like her co-worker, she wears a beigish Croc.
“I know other Croc wearers will scoff at my low-adventure colour, but I think of it as my training colour,” she said. “Next is bright orange or Pepto pink.”
Her Crocs have been in every level of meeting this summer but she’s not sure they’re suitable for the House of Commons. A self-confessed preacher of the Croc gospel, she pre-empts “any discussion of Crocs by making people try mine on.”
So far, there are four Crocsters at Langevin — three female, one “fashion-forward” male. But she vows they are “taking the place over, one at a time.”
Will it be Pepto pink or Pearl White, Mr. Prime Minister?
Jennifer Campbell
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