Crocs: The Second Coming of the Ugliest Shoe Ever

From fashion punchline to pandemic must-have

Image: Badly edited by author

Crocs — the colorful, comfortable foam clogs that break almost every rule in fashion and evoke divisive and visceral reactions from customers and critics alike — are back from the dead.

The shoe company was once the butt of everyone’s jokes, described by critics and commentators with such language as “vermin” and “the ugliest shoes ever invented.” The Crocs was even voted one of TIME’s top 50 worst inventions in 2010. Yet it was also the only major footwear brand in the pandemic to enjoy a rise in sales, thanks largely to the second coming of the Croc.

Here’s how Crocs went from a seemingly one-hit-wonder barely hanging on after the 2008 recession to one of the hottest brands that just won’t die.

Crocs’ fall from grace

Crocs was the brainchild of three founders who had stumbled upon a new boating clog made by Canadian company Foam Creations while out on a sailing trip. It was the material the clogs were made from, known as Croslite, that excited them. After securing the rights to the foam-creation process and tweaking the design, they debuted Crocs in 2002 by launching a single design called “Beach.” While it looked very similar to the quintessential Croc shape we know today, it was originally intended as a spa shoe.

It was an immediate hit, selling close to 75,000 pairs in its first year. In the four years that followed, the company sold more than 50 million pairs and garnered a lot of attention from the media and its love-hate relationship with the shoes. Eventually, Crocs bought out its Canadian manufacturer, and then, in 2006, had the biggest IPO for a footwear brand in U.S. history, raising $200 million. The publicity surrounding these dorky shoes seemed unlimited.

Then, out of nowhere, Crocs lost its footing. In 2008, during the financial crash, the company suffered a huge $200 million loss, forcing massive cost-cutting measures, including the closure of 158 stores and several factories and the loss of 2,000 jobs. The situation got so dire that shareholders filed lawsuits claiming mismanagement. The company hit croc bottom (sorry) in 2009 when its stock price dropped to a record low of $3, down…