Say No to the Crocs!
Manolo says, one of the Manolo’s many internet friends is crying out for the help.
Manolo:
Unlike many non-fashion bloggers, I, one of the Ditzy Democrats, read your shoe blog daily, and follow the advice of the Manolo. We are the only political blog that links to the Manolo in the DC area, and our taste in shoes, well, it is based on that of the Manolo’s.
Unfortunately, the family members of the Ditzy Democrats do not do the same, and it is for this that I write to you. My mother is set, and I mean SET on buying a pair of… Crocs! Ayyyyyyyy!!! I have tried everything, but nothing will deter her from wanting them- “they are so comfortable!” I managed to keep her from buying a pair when she was in Key West (can you imagine!) but now, back in DC, she wants a pair, and because a friend of hers has a pair that she wears whilst working on thier sailboat, she is more set in her desire for these ugliest of ugly shoes.
What can I tell her? I am at a loss, which may sound a little, um, crazy to those who do not know how horrid Crocs are, or how important superfantastic shoes are, but she just won’t listen to me. Any suggestions?
Many thanks,
Melissa
Manolo says, the only thing that is needed is to remind the mother that there are the particular symptoms that indicate the onset of the senility…
Non compos mentis: legal grounds for committal.
As for the other arguments, the Manolo would merely have the Melissa send the mother to the Manolo’s humble disquisition on the topic of the Crocs, there she will find this bit of wisdom.
Yes, the defenders of the Crocs they will speak, as the defenders of the ugly often do, of the great comfort of this “shoe”. Manolo asks you, why must the “comfort” always be the war cry of those who would lead us into the bad shoes?
Manolo says, comfort and style they are not incompatable, one does not obviate the other.
Finally, the Manolo he has it on good authority, from those who have worn the Crocs and repented, that these plastic not-so-super-fantastic shoes cause the unnatural sweating of the feets, sweating that would leave the elderly mother smelling like the anteroom of the Turkish bath.
So, in conclusion, say no to the Crocs!
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Comments
Melissa 19 years ago
Many thanks to the Manolo! I took her shoe shopping this weekend, she now owns a lovely pair of wedge sandals, the shoe that is more appropriate for the tall, skinny middle aged woman. Much better. :)
Melissa
miss tango 19 years ago
Birth control is what they are!
willowgerl 19 years ago
The Melissa, she can at least find comfort in the fact that her mother has not expressed interest in the appropriately named Toe Jam from Simple.
jenny 19 years ago
I was going to defend them by suggesting that they’d be perfect for gardening: when they get dirty, you can just hose ’em off! But then I realized that, with the holes in the sides, your feet would be absolutely as dirty in the end as they would have been had you simply stomped down the rows in bare feet! It’d be like wearing sieves on your feet.
I must be firm, however, in my declaration that these babies are really cute on little kids. My girls love them: one in bright frog green, the other in fuschia. Even my 11-year-old son & his cousins love the dark brown & black ones: they can just slip ’em on as they run outside to play, and I’m saved an evening spent pulling out slivers with a pair of tweezers while [whoever] howls at the top of their lungs. And with a little all-purpose cleaner & water, once-filthy shoes look like new! Ta-Da!
LotionBarBunny 19 years ago
Bleck. Crocs.
Lizzie 19 years ago
Jenny is correct that Crocs are cute on little kids. I saw a toddler wearing a pair, and his were adorable. His dad, however, was wearing a grown-up pair, and he just looked silly. The moral of this story is, what looks cute on your two-year-old is not appropriate for you!
Liz B. 19 years ago
While this admission might get me banned from reading the sage words of the Manolo, I feel compelled to point out that while Crocs are not appropriate for gardening, they do make closed clogs that are quite handy for playing in the dirt.
I must also disclose that when your feet do begin to smell like the anteroom of a Turkish bath, they will also begin to make some very interesting sounds each time you step.
“No, I swear! It wasn’t me, it was my clogs!”
Gigi 19 years ago
Thank you, Wise and Mighty Manolo, for denouncing the Croc. It is truly hideous!
Cat-woman 19 years ago
Why shouldn’t any self-respecting adult wear crocs? Illustration: I have a delightfully quirky, style-impaired aging aunt who wears Crocs. She also wears a bandana on her head pirate-style. And usually a muumuu.
‘Nuff said.
Phyllis 19 years ago
My kids have been wearing them without socks – trust me, a bouquet “like the anteroom of a Turkish bath” is putting it mildy, trust me. They are going in the trash as you read this.
Joan 19 years ago
I see people here in Phoenix wearing these things all the time, and I just don’t get it. It’s hot here, people. I don’t know how the feet inside these shoes escape from being covered with blisters. My daughter has looked longingly at them a few times, but I just tell her there’s no reason to wear ugly shoes when cute sandals are available everywhere. For kicking around, flip-flops are hard to beat for the kids.
Gorgeous Things 19 years ago
Ayyyyyyyiiiiii! The crocs, they are the Evil One of shoes. They must be stopped. I saw a pretty little girl today. She came in the store where I browsed and immediately took off her crocs and ran about barefoot. The mama, she tried to entice the child to put the crocs back on, but the wise child would have none of it. I noted that the mama was not wearing the crocs. Child abuse?
DelRay 19 years ago
I fully concur with The Manolo: crocs are powerfully ugly. However, like many ugly shoes, they do have a legitimate use. That use is river wading. I have a cheap pair of imitation crocs from Wal-Mart just for this highly enjoyable but shoe-destroying activity. Tevas-another hideous shoe-were also designed as river-wear but don’t protect the foot from big rocks as well.
Lori 19 years ago
I’ve really liked Clark’s Suntrek sandals–they’re the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn. I’ve worn a pair every summer for five years and haven’t begun to wear them out. I don’t know if the Manolo would find them superfantastic, but they look far better than the Crocs (they look better on than the photos of the shoes suggest) and they don’t smell.
jenny 19 years ago
True, like death and taxes, the eventual unbearable stink is inevitable; but if you clean them occasionally with, say, 409 or even dish soap & give ’em a scrub, then let them dry in the sun, they’re much more bearable.
Personally, I have an uber-sensitive nose and am very astute when it comes to patrolling my family’s shoes. The plastic/vinyl ones do very well with a frequent wipe-out (disinfecting wipes or even baby wipes work well for this), followed by a quick spray of Lysol disinfectant or the like.
CK 19 years ago
Words from a friend, who is a lovely person despite her insistence on wearing Crocs and Birkenstocks all day, every day: “I think my feet are getting wider from wearing shoes with no support. I can’t fit into my normal shoes anymore.”
Indeed!
Scarpediem 19 years ago
The basic point remains: why wear Croc as on the STREET when they are clearly made, as readers have astutely pointed out, for river wading (an activity in which I personally engage once every decade or so) or for little kids playing in the garden? There are so many beautiful, stylish choices, at affordable prices indeed, that will not produce the odor, blisters, and general nastiness that is wont to happen in plastic shoes.
shiloh 19 years ago
they have made it to Asia and are quite the rage. i found a seat on the train next to a young man with these on his feet. in less than a minute i stood and elbowed my way downwind to avoid the odour.
comfortable perhaps but without socks and in tropical heat these things can make you faint from the stink.
JaneC 19 years ago
I recently purchased some sandals from Hush Puppies. Specifically, these:
http://www.hushpuppies.com/Shop/Detail.aspx?GNavID=G-W&NavID=G-W-SAN&PID=11131
My mother, who has foot problems, also bought a pair. If you’re on a budget, these are relatively nice looking, and comfortable enough for a whole day of sight-seeing on foot. Not the cutest comfortable sandals ever, perhaps, but much, much better than the Crocs.
JamaisVu 19 years ago
The 1st automated trackback comment is most amusing, with its praise and advertisement of the “Cayman Clog”.
Manolo the Shoeblogger 19 years ago
The JamaisVu has noticed one of the problems that many of the blogger face, the persistant and intrusive comment spam. Literally hundreds of the comments spams are intercepted and erased each day the Manolo and his various anti-spam programs.
This it is why occasionally the legitimate comments do not immediately appear, because the commentor had used the word that triggers the anti-spam check. (Virtually any word associated with the prescription drugs, or the sex, or the gambling will cause the comment to be held for the review.)
Often, at the shoe blog, the comment spam manifests itself as the trackback comments from the sites that sell the shoes, sites such as the one in the trackback above that offer no substantive contribution to the discussion. Usually the Manolo he deletes these comments; sometimes, if he is feeling puckish he will edit the address the comment has left so that the malefactor receives no traffic from the intrusion.
Of the course, such anti-spam measures they cause the Manolo’s real internet friends the occasional inconvienence, and for this the Manolo must apologize.
la petite chou chou 19 years ago
HA! One of my coworkers has those hideous Crocks. He said “These are the most comfortable shoes ever. I’m going to get a pair that don’t have holes in them and use them as work shoes.” (I work at Banana Republic, by the way.) And I said, never having seen them before, “are those for wading in rivers?”
I haven’t noticed any funky odors though…I am praying to the shoe-god that I don’t.
I wouldn’t be caught dead in them.
Melissa 19 years ago
The woman who works at my university’s coffee shop wears black Crocs with socks. Black Crocs with holes in them. Paired with white socks. Ayyyyyy!!
Sniper 19 years ago
Crocs are fine for gardening as long as you’re prepared to hose off your feet along with the shoes. For street wear? Not so much.
Cat-woman 19 years ago
Oh God, The Crocs With Socks. I have seen it too, and can only attribute it to the fact that half the population have below-average intelligence, and 1 in 10 are in the bottom 10%.
Crocs + Socks = so wrong in so many ways.
Texasexile 19 years ago
The Texasexile recently attended the Fest of Jazz in New Orleans. Much to the horror, many of the Festgoers had succumbed to the rainbow-colored rubber evil that is the Crocs. Thank goodness we were outdoors . . . .
jj 19 years ago
There are acceptable realms for the croc.
Gardening. Cooking. River wading. Certain medical settings.
They are not casual wear. Repeat after me: CROCS ARE NOT CASUAL WEAR!
AngieDawn 19 years ago
Agreed – it is so shocking how many people are buying into the bright colored Crocs… they’re even available at nice department stores.
The only time I’ve seen someone wearing a pair that made sense was a family who was canoeing – that’s it.
Coleen 19 years ago
The Hussified, she works with many nurses, and they swear by the Crocs as shoes to change into on the way to and from work. They sell them in the nursing university bookstore. This doesn’t make the Hussified want to wear them or anything, just wanted to bring such a fact to the Manolo’s attention.
Dani 19 years ago
Yes, Coleen, I was about to point out that they are the excellent surgeon shoe (the hole-free variety). One has to have hose-off shoes in that profession- I’ll leave the details to the readers’ imagination. Since one has no choice as to which garish color one will wear (usually bright purple so no one would dare wear them outside of the OR, much less the hospital) style will never be a consideration.
Though pearls do look nice.
Dowdydiva 19 years ago
The dowdydiva loves her Anywears, which are closed rubber clogs with washable anti-bacterial insoles. But mostly at home, and in the garden, and occasionally for travel. They do get very warm, though, and are awful as shower shoes for the pool – those insoles are like sponges. Igh.
Kiki in London 19 years ago
The usually esteemable Liberty of London has taken to stocking them (next to Prada, no less!!) and I can no longer enter the shoe department…
La Petite Acadienne 19 years ago
Ugh. Why is there always a trendy ugly shoe? The Birkenstock with the socks. The Ugg boot. And now, the Croc. Oui, they are cute on the children, but a grown adult must not wear a shoe that looks like a bath toy.
Mark 18 years ago
My advise– stay far away from crocs.
And this is not only because they are butt- ugly. I bought a pair, properly sized in the store, and within 2 days of wearing had several blisters on the top of my foot- over the first and second toes. Sure the bottom of my feet felt OK, but the ridiculous plastic absolutely WILL rub on the top of your foot, and you WILL sweat in them. If you can wear them with socks- like I suppose many nurses or doctors do, fine, but don’t expect to walk around a lot with these pieces of junk.
Maybe I’ll keep mine as slippers, but will not use them if I am walking for than a block!!
Ronnie 18 years ago
I Googled “Crocs slivers” because I got a pair and haven’t NOT experienced slivers in my feet every time I wear them. I got them for home gardening or outside slippers, but haven’t been able to wear them longer than 30 minutes before a sliver pokes me!
What’s up with that?
vic 17 years ago
Hi,
is the imitation shoe with brand name of Crocs?
your answer is very important to us.
best
wen dy 14 years ago
manolo, you are so “oa” for goin’ rampant over a brand of just unusual lookin’ yet functional shoes. screw you,okay. ’nuff said.