The first pair of Crocs I ever slid on were my dad’s. They were “outside slippers” (immigrant code for shoes you wear in the garage or garden, but not out in public). As a teen, I put them on as a joke but quickly swallowed my laughter when my foot sank into the bouncy foam. They were comfy. I activated “sports mode”. I was unstoppable.
Of course, I never wore them out of my home. A decade ago, Crocs were social suicide. Crocs were inclusions in embarrassing “would you rather” scenarios and treated like sartorial punchlines.
Now, the humble clog brand has more than 120 styles secured under its Crocs strap. The Colorado-born footwear brand has been around for 23 years (the same age as my younger sister, which feels like it explains a lot). Like the scaly creature they’re named after, Crocs were invented to be able to traverse land and water. At the point of writing, over 100 million pairs of Crocs have been sold, a figure I can’t help but shudder at.
This past week, Crocs opened its first Australian concept store in Melbourne Central (fittingly, it also has an outlet store on the Gold Coast). Dozens upon dozens of styles – heeled, fluffy, pastel! – line its periphery. It’s concrete-laden, with white paint and an exposed ceiling; it’s the stock-standard layout for a typical shopping centre store.
In its two decades, Crocs has gone through a spin cycle of brand perception. It rose beyond its deathly daggy demeanour and broke through into the style stratosphere.
“[Crocs] really shifted to being a fashion piece with [its] platform styles and brighter colours, like the Balenciaga collab,” Sydney-based stylist Marisa Suen says of Crocs’ rise through to the fashion ranks. “I guess Covid also pushed people to be comfortable wearing daggier outfits out.”
In 2017, Scottish fashion designer Christopher Kane released a collaboration with the clog brand, with Balenciaga quickly following suit. As of this week, famed Irish designer Simone Rocha dropped her third collaboration with Crocs.
Celebrity endorsements – from musicians like Questlove (who wore a pair to the Oscars) and Lil Nas X (who’s a global ambassador), to limited-edition collaboration runs with Post Malone, Justin Bieber and Bad Bunny – have elevated the footwear brand to one that’s coveted and cool.
Sydney-based fashion digital creator Tara Chandra tells Broadsheet that she’s gone from “a hater to a lover over the past decade” when it comes to Crocs. “Doing collaborations with major designers and brands, and extending their product range to include different styles such as platform Crocs, Mary Janes [and] heels … has definitely aided their relevancy to today’s fashion climate.”
Chandra is now a staunch Crocs supporter, and says she’s got multiple pairs she switches between to suit different outfits. “One of my favourite pairs is the white Mega Crush platforms,” she says. “I’ve Jibbitz-ified every Crocs hole with florals, pink and bow-themed Jibbitz.”
That’s the other thing – Crocs have patented little charms that plug into the clogs’ holes. They’re known as Jibbitz (a term I cannot get around). Even in Melbourne, Hot-Listed venue A1 Bakery has released its own Jibbitz.
So what’s Suen’s stylist verdict? “They're whatever. I’ve previously had a phase of finding them fun purely from decorating them with Jibbitz,” she says. “I like to see them more as a functional dad shoe (for beach, gardening and water activities) rather than a fashion-girly shoe.”
The opening of its first Australian store marks a new era for the brand. Crocs are no longer an eyesore or a shocking designer collaboration choice. They’re the kind of shoe you’d find at a shopping centre, neighbouring a toilet block, lingerie store and a nail salon. Crocs’ new 72-square-metre home is a spongey wonderland for clog lovers. And yes, there’s a Jibbitz customisation bar, too.
Whether you love or hate them, it’s official: Crocs are painfully mainstream.
