passing the buck, northwest reputation tarnished with crocophilia
Horror of horrors, Slate’s Meghan O’Rourke looks at the phenomenon of Crocs and imagines that the blame for the objectionable technicolor footware trend might lie in our own backyards:
The shoes’ original home was Boulder, Colo. The early Crocs customer was probably a Pacific Northwesterner who liked to boat or garden–this was a niche shoe, after all. He or she was drawn in by the “no slip” grip on the sole, by the aerating holes, and by the featherweight heft of the thing (a pair weighs a mere 6 ounces). The clunky look was not a drawback (this is the region, after all, that brought us grunge), and many customers were pleased that the shoe was made of a proprietary nonplastic resin formula (known as Croslite)–it was, as one testified, “vegan.” Because the material is soft, bacteria-resistant, and has a strangely “natural” feel, the Croc fits in with the Northwest’s typically green and mildly counterculture ethos. [slate]
As if we haven’t suffered enough for our association with flannel and birkenstocks as fashion items! Surely the sin of fostering these shoes in their infancy rather than subjecting them to a timely extermination must lie elsewhere?
you have got to be kidding me! those things are a total embarrassment and eye sore. i can’t believe someone is equating them with the northwest. i’ve had fantasies about burning down the croc displays in the mall! and now even worse, nordstrom’s sells them will little painted on butterflies and ladybugs. abhorring!
I have to say, I think I saw these shoes outside Seattle long before I saw them become popular here. Admittedly a rather small sample set, but I’m disinclined to believe that the trend actually originated here.
This isn’t even *close* to the worst fashion statement in shoes. That would be flip-flops, and I entirely blame California for their current overpopularity.
I’ve heard that at least some of the blame lies with through-hikers on the AT (Appalachian Trail - that’s EAST), where Crocs were all the rage a few seasons ago.
No, Colin, these are possibly the worst shoes ever. I didn’t think it was possible for me to feel as strongly against a kind of shoe as I do about these.
Crocs are terribly ugly, unsightly, and completely dorky. While I have heard some of my partner’s co-workers rave about them AND suggest that we each get a pair, I think that I’d gouge my eyes out first than be caught dead in a pair of those!
BTW, they also sell them at my neighborhood hardware store.