If Crocs Go Out of Business, What Will Israelis Wear?

Ahh, Crocs. The ugliest, most comfortable shoe on the planet. So unfashionable, it's fashionable. So comfortable that people don't care how ugly it is. So practical for Israelis who suddenly find themselves on an unexpected water hike, or for Manhattanites on a rainy day. (OK, so maybe more practical for the former than for the latter.)  Jews everywhere delighted at a Yom Kippur shoe that was inexpensive, comfortable and not made of leather. Bloggers and Twitterati embraced them: Leah Jones has them in yellow (see left, and how well traveled they are on her flickr page). I fought the trend, but finally caved and bought basic black.

Well, better stock up now, kids - the online chatter is that it's situation-critical over at Crocs HQ, and that the podiatric blight might not be available much longer.

Manolith's Ned Hepburn (gleefully) reports news of the company's condition, saying it's "great. Because now people can go back to wearing proper shoes":

And don’t give me that crap about “non skid” or “comfortable” or even “feet could breathe”. You’re not 4. You’re allowed to have laces and buckles and things that are confusing to other species on your feet. You’re allowed to buy grown-up person shoes. I don’t care if they’re comfortable. They make you look like a low-functioning elf.

Hepburn may want to check out - if he's not already a founding member - of "I Don't Care How Comfortable Crocs Are, They Make You Look Like a Dumbass" group on Facebook. (And for "Hitler and Crocs," check out Jewlicious.)

This will have far-reaching effects on the State of Israel, where many kibbutznik and non-kibbutznik children routinely have multiple pairs of the shoe in eye-blinding fluorescent colors. They even wear them to weddings.

With everything else Israel has to deal with, it almost doesn't seem fair to imagine a future without Crocs in as many colors as a Benetton ad. I guess that's good news for the Naot factory, but that's a bit pricier (if possessing the additional bonus of not looking like the aforementiond fashion nightmare). Plus, a woman in the Naot store on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem told me that the factory had suffered because of recent rocket attacks in the north of Israel (the factory is near Kiryat Shmona). Perhaps it's time to go back to biblical roots, and encourage residents of and visitors to Israel to "take the shoes from off of thy feet, for the ground on which thou standest is holy."

Comments

[What War Zone???]

At last. Now we can finally return to directing others' attention to our ridiculous t-shirts.

Because I am of course a "SEXY BEAST".

[phyllis]

oh no! what am i going to do for my blog header!?:-)

[smitty]

Hello esther I think your writing is great. Keep up the good work. This story about Crocs, I don't know if it was supposed to be funny but it made me laugh. I have a real love hate relationship with these shoes.

[Rerto Jordans]

In the beautiful seasons of spring and autumn riding a bicycle to travel and appreciate the natural views is a wonderful experience.

[adidas tracksuit]

Great content and it's so helpful for me. But it's so weird that your blog is in a mess through my explorer. Is that my explorer problem? But it's pretty normal when exploring other blogs.

[Autocraft]

This story about Crocs, I don't know if it was supposed to be funny but it made me laugh.