Earlier than I get too deep in my feels, a fast historical past lesson: Crocs was based in 2002 in Boulder, Colorado. Crocs’ inaugural type, the Seaside, was roughly impressed by conventional Dutch clogs and designed as light-weight boating footwear, due to the grippy soles and waterproof foam building. The remaining, as they are saying, is historical past — however even because the model rapidly turned successful amongst youngsters, nurses, and people who merely admire wise footwear, I would enterprise a guess that turning into a red-hot popular culture phenomenon (to not point out, unlikely runway inspo) was most likely not on the Crocs temper board.

Even 20 years later, Crocs are nonetheless as divisive as politics and Hawaiian pizza. And I will admit: I used to be a longtime Crocs hater, a kind of annoyings who would say, “I simply do not get them!” Nonetheless, one thing clicked for me — you can name it my Crocs awakening — in the course of the pandemic. I had not too long ago adopted an ideal rescue canine, which gave me an immense sense of pleasure and goal in these Unprecedented Instances™. I used to be trying to find an easy-on, easy-off shoe that I may put on for canine walks, and Crocs rapidly got here up in my Google search. You may presumably blame my tenuous psychological state on the time for clicking “buy” with out a lot thought; regardless, when my Crocs (a baby-blue pair that I nonetheless rock on a regular basis) arrived, it was love at first really feel.