Comfy shoes are really important in my line of work. I’m not doing a lot of walking, but my clients usually live in areas where the county doesn’t spend much time maintaining the sidewalks, so sporting heels or even certain styles of boots is not really a good idea.
It seems that there are two kinds of people in this world: those that wear (or would be willing to wear) Crocs… and those that hate Crocs with a fiery passion. There seems to be very little middle-ground here.
Those that revile Crocs often talk disparagingly about the clunky appearance of the shoes, the oddness of the rubber-ish material, the foot sweat, and the awkwardness of finding that you are wearing the same shoes as your 3-year-old nephew. All very valid points. Those that love Crocs praise the durability of the shoe, the easy clean-up, the variety of styles, and (above all) the absolute comfort of those soft, rubbery buggers. Again, all very valid points.
For the longest time, I hated Crocs. I refused to wear them because they just looked so damn weird. I mean, why the hell was I going to wear shoes with holes in them? But then one day, I got in my head to look for some new, comfy flip-flops and came upon these little beauties at my local sporting goods store…
And with that, I was hooked. I must say that I was immediately impressed by how cushy-comfy these guys felt. The weird little raised dots (“circulation nubs”) took some getting used to, but now I kind of like them. I’ve had these for about a year and they are as good as when I wore them home from the sporting goods store. And, you know, they really do look cute when paired with a casual outfit. I mean it. I’m all for comfort and practicality, but I wouldn’t be wearing these things if they made my feet and/or outfit look like crap. So believe me when I say they look nice. Are they as cute as a pair of Mary Janes, though? Maybe not…
Which brings me to my next Crocs purchase. I actually found these little babies on eBay. The seller had them marked as a “rare” style so I snapped them up quickly only to find that I could get them on Crocs.com, Amazon.com, and Zappos.com. I’m sure they meant “rare” as in… Oh, I don’t know.
Anyway, these are pretty cute and (of course) comfy. They do tend to make my feet look a bit wide, but I don’t find that overly concerning. I figure that women are already under so much pressure to have thin bodies that I don’t have any spare time to spend on worrying about having thin feet. My only issue with these shoes is that sometimes the little button-things where the strap attaches can dig a bit into the underside of your foot. But for some reason that doesn’t always happen, so I guess it’s not a really big deal.
I guess the only thing that consistently annoys me about these shoes is the foot sweat that comes with wearing rubber shoes with no ventilation. I combat the problem by slipping them on and off several times a day, which is very easy to do. I tried sprinkling some deodorant powder inside, but the stuff kind of gets everywhere. I say “no thanks” to looking as if I hitched a ride in a concrete mixer. Plus the powder makes walking a little more difficult (at least at first) because it creates a bit of slipperiness in the shoe.
Anyway, here’s how these look on me. Notice the wideness of my feet. It’s something I’ve learned to accept. I think it’s a little effed up that I’m so used to shoving my feet into hard little, misshappen shells that the actual shape of my feet seems unattractive to me.
Anyway, I’m in the market for a new pair of black Mary Jane-type Crocs to complete my arsenal. I was considering just getting the black version of the above style, but then I found these and I think that I might have changed my tune…
They have the comfy Crocs sole that I have come to love, but look much more like a “real” shoe than other Crocs. They don’t have that Mary Jane look, but I think that a little variety might be good. And maybe these won’t make that weird little farting noise that the Mary Jane-type ones can sometimes make when I have a little sweat going on. I don’t know.
* All pics courtesy of the awesome folks at Zappos.com.
Almost Lovely 
Very cute. =]