Photo by Kit Leffler

Annie Greer, Boulder, Colo. sophomore, couldn’t help noticing that the guy seated beside her was staring intently at her feet. Greer didn’t understand why her brightly colored, spongy shoes were so intriguing. Where she’s from, almost everyone she knows has a pair.

“Those are the weirdest shoes I have ever seen,” was all he said.

After this encounter Greer realized that instead of blending in as they did back home, the three pairs of Crocs she owns cause strangers to stop her on the sidewalk and ask her questions about them.

Crocs are sturdy, lightweight clogs punched with holes that cost $30. Because of their versatility and fashion appeal, more people have become proud owners of these strange shoes, and the trend hasn’t passed by Lawrence.

Greer’s Crocs are admired so much that someone stole her black pair during a sorority event before winter break. When Greer returned this semester, she thought that the thief would be easy to spot because so few people had the shoes. Unfortunately for her, while she was home, Lawrence shoe stores started carrying Crocs and the squishy shoes pervaded the KU campus.

“Once Shark’s started selling them they spread like wildfire,” Greer says. “I’ve never met anyone who has hated Crocs after they’ve worn them. The unique thing about them is that so many different kinds of people wear them. I’ve seen frat guys, art students, professionals and even whole families wearing them. Crocs owners are Crocs fanatics. There’s just something about them.”

Chris Cox, the owner of Shark’s Surf Shop, 813 Massachusetts St., is shocked about the shoes’ popularity.

“They were the biggest surprise of the year,” he says. “I’ve never had a shoe that spanned all age groups, from kids to grandmas, like Crocs do. They’re the most comfortable pair of shoes we sell and are quickly becoming a staple. I think their practicality and ugliness factor are the main reasons they sell so well.”

Chad Jackson, owner of the scuba diving shop Blue Planet, 1301 E. 25th St., is the person who brought Crocs to Lawrence stores. Jackson first saw them in the Florida Keys a year ago. He brought back a few pairs because they were good boat shoes to wear between dives and because he liked how they felt. Upon his return, one of his employees offered to buy a pair off of him. When he took groups to Florida for dive trips, most of the travelers bought a pair for themselves plus a few pairs to take back home. Jackson likes them because they grip well, they float, and the resin they are made of is waterproof so they resist bacteria, dry quickly and don’t smell.

“They are the best boating shoes I have encountered and I wanted to be able to bring them to the water-sports enthusiasts in and around Lawrence,” he says.

Jackson contacted Crocs Footwear and its distributor, Western Brands, in Niwot, Colo., to try and become a vendor. At the time, Western Brands was mainly distributing Crocs on the coasts because of the reaction they were getting from people who worked and played in water. Jackson tried to convince Western Brands that Lawrence was a good market for Crocs. The distributor eventually made

a deal after it came to Lawrence and found three other shoe stores that wanted to carry them: Shark’s, Brown’s Shoe, 829 Massachusetts St., and Arensberg’s, 825 Massachusetts St.

“I worked very hard to get them here and I’m glad that they’ve been so successful,” he says. “I sell around 10 pairs a day, which is pretty good for shoes.”

Jackson found that Crocs were a big hit with people who were on their feet for most of the day, such as health care and food service workers.

“I’m also a physical therapist and my Crocs are the only pair of shoes I enjoy standing in for extended periods of time,” he says. “I can understand why these professionals are buying a pair. Their versatility is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Billy Pyle, Boulder, Colo., sophomore, helped bring Crocs to the KU campus. Pyle says that at first, his older Sigma Chi fraternity brothers made fun of him for wearing Crocs. But his pledge brothers liked them and asked Pyle to get them pairs when went he went home for breaks. Pyle’s dad went to college with Scott Seamans, who invented Crocs, so he was able to get more than 20 free pairs of Crocs for his friends. Pyle says that once he started giving Crocs to his pledge class, the older guys stopped making fun of him and asked for their own pairs.

“Nobody knew about them,” Pyle says. “But once stores started selling them here they were everywhere. I think they’ve become a trend because a lot of college kids wear sandals and Crocs are similar to sandals because they’re comfortable and you slip into them. Now that Crocs are a trend I wear them less. They’ve basically become my shower shoes.”

Peter Seamans is a shareholder and occasional distribution negotiator for Western Brands. His brother, Scott Seamans, is a plastic products developer and Crocs inventor. Scott molded the first Crocs prototype two years ago from material he was working with for the medical industry.

“When Scott showed me the shoe that he was working on I was very skeptical at first,” Peter says. “I told him that no one would buy it because it is so ugly and awkward-looking. After he worked with it and made a few more prototypes, it became evident to me that he was on to something.”

Western Brands has no competition because, according to its Web site, crocs.com, Crocs are made of a patented, closed-cell resin. The shoe has an orthotic heel, built-in arch support and a tarsal bar that keeps feet in a comfortable position while allowing them to spread out. Peter Seamans would not elaborate on the method, but he says that making the original material and molding the shoe was a complicated and time-consuming process. He says that other companies can try to copy the shoe design but they can never re-create the material, which is the essential component of Crocs and what separates them from other shoes.

Peter Seamans is a registered physical trainer and movement specialist at Flatirons Athletic Club in Boulder, Colo. He says that his feet and back used to ache after standing for hours on the hard gym floors, but once he started wearing Crocs instead of athletic shoes his problems went away. This caused him to advise his clients who suffer from back and foot problems to try Crocs. He says that every one of his clients who started wearing them experienced similar relief.

“I squatted 300 pounds in a pair this morning,” Peter Seamans says. “Crocs have so many advantages and even though everyone has their own reasons for wearing them, no one is disappointed. Most of the Croc wearers I know own at least four pairs. The more you start wearing them the less you want to wear anything else.”

To date, Western Brands has not spent any money on advertising. Peter Seamans says that the company has no need to because Crocs have become popular through word of mouth and media coverage.

“The company is expanding at a break-neck pace,” he says. “Crocs have become popular so fast. Everyone is running 100 mph just to keep up.”

Peter Seamans couldn’t give any numbers on sales or distribution, but he says that the Pedestrian Shop, a shoe store in Boulder, Colo., which was one of the first stores to sell Crocs, still sells about 100 pairs a day. This is amazing, he says, in a town where it seems as if almost every man, woman, and child already own a few pairs.

“I like to say that my brother reinvented footwear,” he says. “He made an ugly shoe into something that’s fashionable and cool. Everyone wants comfort and Crocs provide that and a fashion statement for a low price. They will continue to be well-accepted because high quality and comfort are not trends, they are here to stay.”

Kelley Massoni, Lawrence sociology and pop culture Ph.D. student, studies trends and how they coincide with society. She says that Crocs are similar to the current shoe trends of Uggs, galoshes and flat ballerina slippers because they all focus on comfort instead of style or beauty.

“With the turmoil of war and the overall feeling that we’re subject to attack, the family, home and comfort are becoming more important,” she says. “People are not going out or dressing up as much, so they don’t want risky or exciting fashion. Current shoe trends, especially for women, reflect that they want to feel safe and supported. Women are embracing shoes that are not aesthetically beautiful or uncomfortable.”

Massoni says that Crocs’ ugliness makes a strong statement that the women wearing them are going for comfort instead of the sexiness or attractiveness associated with the previous trend of high heels. People buy into fashion trends because they are associated with much more than the material product. She says that for every trend, there is a group of true believers who wear a product for its utility or comfort, but there are many more who wear it because of its look and what that says about them. The death of a trend comes when it becomes a knock-off and reaches a saturation point. Massoni says that this is because the trend loses its meaning and the people who are wearing it for its statement find a different way to represent themselves.

“People are getting what they’re getting from trends,” she says. “If it makes them feel like they are the king of the world, then there are no downsides. Who knows? Crocs may turnout to be like Birkenstocks where there is such a large base of true believers that many people will keep wearing them because of how they make them feel. However, all trends end eventually and although ugliness is in now, I’m sure if the economy gets better and people feel safer, it won’t be in anymore.”

For now, the fashion followers and true believers continue to spread their enthusiasm about Crocs. Even though her once-distinctive shoes are common footwear on the KU campus, Greer continues to scrutinize the feet of her fellow Croc wearers.

“Every time I see a pair of black Crocs I can’t help but stare at them,” she says. “I’ll find them eventually. My pair is out there and I’ll know them when I see them.”