The Deadly Croc!
Manolo says, yet one more reason to not wear the Crocs: Escalators!
As we were going down Sophia’s left shoe (pink crocs) got caught on the side of the escalator. None of us knew what was happening. Soph was yelling. We thought she was just excited about something she was seeing while going down. It happened so fast. I looked down and saw that her shoe was being EATEN by the crack between the escalator and side foot rail. She was screaming. I saw the little pink croc being gobbled up. It was one of those slow-motion moments.
March 7th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Sadly, this is why they put those yellow markings around the edge of escalators to show where your foot should NOT go.
My mother always warned me about the dangers of untied shoelaces on escalators - they will eat just about anything.
March 7th, 2007 at 1:22 am
So what did they do? They bought another pair of Crocs: “After the initial shock I think she was also really upset that she lost her favourite shoe. She was freaking out that her left foot was exposed. So to make her feel better, we bought her another pair of crocs10 minutes after. Was that the right thing to do? We don’t know… Probably not. But she stopped crying. She didn’t want another pink one. She said “the pink one is dead.” So she chose orange. “
March 7th, 2007 at 1:48 am
Awww….well I think crocs can be cute on little girls. “The pink one is dead” hahaha.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:09 am
I am most definitely a full supporter of the shoes most superfantastic…but I must say that for scuffling about, the croc is not the horror it is made out to be. I challenge you!!! Make a comfortable shoe that one can walk around in for 12-14 hours a day, and make it superfantastic! For now, I wear the shoes most superfantastic for as many hours as I can before the bleeding begins, and then switch to my crocs (or *gasp* other “comfort horror” shoes) so that I will not become seriously deformed at a young age.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:39 am
Soph’s reaction: “my croc is ugly!!! Its ugly!!!”
Behold, the wisdom of a child.
Or not - obviously she was just talking about the mangled shoe. But little did she know what her words really meant.
Interesting comments below the mom’s post about escalators “abroad” (as Brits used to say).
March 7th, 2007 at 4:22 am
It happened to a pair of Havaianas too: http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowhite/412081733/
March 7th, 2007 at 4:22 am
Good bloody riddance I say! The sight of them, on or off any person’s feet, is horrifying to me.
March 7th, 2007 at 7:25 am
Oh Manolo you must know how a Crocs imitation shoe has cost a young toddler her toe. Which is very sad indeed.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/061109/3/44ngj.html
It could happen to the real Crocs wearer someday.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:55 am
This happened to my mom way back in the 1940’s–she got her black patent mary jane caught in an escalator in some posh store while she was shopping with my Grandmother. Major trauma. She always reminded us of her chewed up shoe when we got on an escalator…….still freaks me out.
March 7th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Oddly enough, this reminds me of one of my stranger childhood fears: that if you did not step smartly off the escalator you would be pulled down underneath, where alligators would eat you.
March 7th, 2007 at 3:00 pm
ah, yes. Those alligators lived underneath the escalator and under the beds in my Grandma’s guest room…….
March 7th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
I’ve been on this dangerous Crocs story since last summer. The company maintains it could happen with any shoe. The critics say the secret foam that allegedly makes Crocs so comfortable is particularly susceptible to being chewed up in escalators.
Consumer Reports, please get on this.
March 7th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
Bahaha. Funny. I can just see a croc getting ripped right off a foot and mangled all the way up or down the escalator…
I love it…
The toe thing is sad.
March 7th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
” So to make her feel better, we bought her another pair of crocs10 minutes after.”
” We are not blaming crocs. Crocs are really comfortable …”
aaieey — some peoples will not ever learn….
March 8th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
To be honest, it could happen to a lot of things. If it fits between that slot where the “stair” is sliding in, it could either tear something off or jam the escalator. And the girl is 4 y/o! I’d say she’s got a good 4 years before those things stop being cute on her.
March 9th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Because it can’t be said enough….out of the mouths of babes
When she saw her shoe, Soph’s reaction: “my croc is ugly!!! Its ugly!!!” Cry cry cry. Scream. Scream
March 11th, 2007 at 7:00 am
Why would you put a pair of crocs on your children’s feet in the first place?
They are NOT in any form cute or pretty so why scar children for life?
They are also dangerous. They should be banned on aeroplanes.
What happened to pretty buckle-up shoes that are just as comfortable, if not more, and actually make your child look like they are dressed by someone with good taste?
March 12th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I think this snippet from one of the responses may cause terrible, horrid nightmares for weeks to come:
She uses only Crocs everywhere including at home when she should be in slippers. She’d be the best endorser for the pair. I was planning to get one for myself so we could have matching shoes.
Ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
March 13th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
La BellaDonna, she remembers trundling down the escalator to the train, and looking across the station, where she beheld someone she knew being extricated by the many peoples from the terror of the escalator - her long coat/skirt, it had been eaten by the escalator!
Not so the acquaintance of La BellaDonna, fortunately. But LaBellaDonna, she carefully minds her coat and skirt hems when traveling on the fierce and hungry escalators.
March 15th, 2007 at 7:29 am
I buy Kavats for my daughters and was horrified hear of this terrible incident. I live in Singapore…and for shoes of course…
SINGAPORE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Crocs Inc. , maker of the hugely popular crayon-coloured rubber clogs, called for better escalator safety after a Singapore child lost a toe when its imitation clog got stuck in an escalator.
On Saturday, two-year-old Chong Shiyr’s right big toe was ripped off in a Singapore mall after her rubber clog — an imitation of a Croc shoe — got stuck between the escalator gap and the side wall.
Her toe was found nearly three hours later but could not be reattached as it was too badly damaged.
“Crocs shoes are completely safe. The popularity of our shoes has helped draw attention to a long-existing issue that we think is very important — escalator safety,” Crocs public relations manager Tia Mattson said in a statement emailed from the U.S. early on Thursday.
“Escalators and moving sidewalks, particularly those that have not received proper care and maintenance, can be dangerous and pose risks to their riders,” Crocs added.
The incident is the latest — and possibly the most serious — accident involving rubber clogs and escalators. On Oct. 5, ABC News reported that there have been several similar incidents in the United States.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:30 am
[…] first became aware of the danger by reading Manolo’s Shoe Blog, but the Washington Post’s new article has reiterated the danger - Crocs and other soft-soled […]