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CrocAppeal: A Feat of Shoe Style Roars On
Biloxi Sun-Herald, Jun 10, 2006
Where to find them:
What: Some of the places on the Coast to find Crocs include the following stores, which is not intended to be a complete list.
Where: Journeys at Edgewater Mall in Biloxi; Grace Healthcare on Cedar Lake Road in Biloxi and on Broad Avenue in Gulfport; Moses Men’s Wear in Gulfport; Economy Boots in Gautier; S.F. Alman and Freckles in Gulfport; Chandeleur Outfitters in Ocean Springs; Joy’s Hallmark at Crossroads in Gulfport; Academy Sports at Crossroads in Gulfport; Lucia’s Hallmark in Ocean Springs.
Details: www.crocs.com
Crocs are unbelievable, but believe them.
“People buy these?” was the first reaction of store owner Tim O’Flynn of Gautier upon seeing the roomy rubberlike shoe at the February market of the World Shoe Association.
Today, four months later, he says, “They are the most popular thing I’ve got since sliced bread. I carry four different styles, and I’ve had to reorder twice; 144 pairs of each.”
The shoes are not actually rubber, says the Crocs.com Web site, but a closed cell resin called Croslite that absorbs impact, resists odor, inhibits bacterial and fungal growth, is non-toxic and can be cleaned with just soap and water.
None of which matters to American youths.
Croc appeal for them is more likely due to the shoe’s goofy look, 18-color selection from lime green and fuchsia to black and the sensation of walking on marshmallows.
That’s why adults of all ages, both men and women, like them, too; why sales skyrocketed from $1.2 million their first year out to $13 million in 2004 and $120 million last year, wrote stock columnist Malcolm Berko of Boca Rotan, Fla., in May.
It was members of the “always on their feet” medical profession who were the first customers for what was initially considered a therapeutic shoe. They have small bubbles on the insole that massage in strategic points and are touted for support and ergonomic benefits.
The shoes “are so abominably ugly and so clownishly grotesque,” Berko wrote in May, “that they became an immediate sensation with our preteen and teenage generation. (Then) millions of nearly normal subadults began to buy this absurd footwear.”
He admitted to buying a pair for himself.
“You can’t dress them up,” observed Shelley Creel, co-owner of Joy’s Hallmark at Crossroads in Gulfport. “You might wear them with a denim skirt.”
But they go everywhere, including boats, beaches and schools and are worn in winter with socks.
After Katrina, Creel said, “All of a sudden, they became the hurricane shoe because a lot of people didn’t have anything. Everybody was cleaning up the mud and Crocs could survive the cleanup. These shoes were the perfect shoe.”
Her store had been trying to stock Crocs for five months when Katrina hit.
“We had been getting six to 10 phone calls a day thinking we might carry Crocs because Hallmark stores do carry them universally in other states.”
But the Croc frenzy was on and the waiting list was long.
“It was the Monday after the storm we got our first shipment,” she said.
“We had to chase the shipment from the FedEx distribution center because they could not find us. Our store was damaged. The store was closed. We were literally driving around town trying to find the FedEx truck, because we knew he was carrying our Crocs.” Shortly thereafter, they also took on the undeliverable orders of Crocs for stores that did not reopen, including Dillards and Shoe Station.
Today, Crocs are the best-selling item in the store.
New decorative snap-in Croc buttons ($1.95 each) for Crocs with holes in the top are the second best item in the store, Creel said. Similar to charms, the buttons have letters, numbers and symbols and each shoe can take up to 13, a different one for each hole.
Moses Men’s Wear in Gulfport started carrying Crocs three months ago, said owner David Moses.
“I make the markets,” he said. “You see them on people’s feet, you hear the buzz around the industry. I can see what’s going to be hot!”
S.F. Alman in Gulfport has been carrying Crocs, including a deck shoe for $50, for several seasons, but “starting this spring, there was a dramatic change,” said manager David Bell.
“Originally, we had to show them to people,” he said, and now people buy them… “For every birthday, every holiday… every day.”
The popularity of Crocs has stocked shelves at drug, discount and department stores with the inevitable spinoff products that resemble the shoe, but don’t be fooled. The real thing roars its name, Crocs, somewhere on the shoe, usually the heel area.
Flip-flops and slip-ons
What: Flip-flops, which are new this year, and the closed toe with holes are among Crocs’ most popular styles.
Flip-flops: Called Athens. Is available from a child’s size 12-13 to men’s size 13, the largest they make. It is a unisex shoe.
Colors: Children’s sizes are bright two-tone colors like bright orange and bright fuchsia; adult colors are more traditional, two-tone, like navy and khaki and navy or black on black, except for one that is lime green and fuchsia.
Slip-ons: Cayman is the name of the children’s style and Beach is the adult’s in the very popular style that has covered toes with holes in front and an open heel with a strap across the back. Sizes start at infant-toddler size 6-7 and go to L, which is a man’s 14-15.
Colors: Every color imaginable from bright to dark, from lime green to black.
Most popular: Females prefer fuchsia and males either khaki or black. For kids, it’s all the bright colors.
Trend: Kids will pick their Croc colors and then go pick their outfit, instead of picking their outfit first and finding shoes to match.
Cost: Approximately $25 for children’s styles and $30 for adults. Details: Crocs can be purchased at www.crocs.com, which also lists vendors by geographic location.
-Pam Firmin
pfirmin@sunherald.com
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