Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: Aggielife

Media Credit: Fred Lambuth [Click to enlarge]

Once again, I am completely perplexed. This time, people have tried to provide me justification for why they think and act the way they do. Their explanations, though, have been to no avail.

I have attempted to see the world through others' eyes, but I remain baffled. The question remains in my head: what are people thinking when they put a pair of Crocs on their feet?

In the first place, I don't understand why any person would think of wearing Crocs as a casual shoe. The official Crocs web site says that the shoes "were intended as a boating, outdoor shoe…"

Outdoor activities and boating are legitimate occasions for wearing such footwear. The garden would also be the perfect place to wear Crocs. I remember my aunt, years ago, crouching over her flowerbeds wearing a bright red pair of gardening shoes that eerily resemble the modern Crocs.

So, why would someone want to wear Crocs as a casual shoe? Personally, I would be incredibly embarrassed to wear a shoe in public that had been created for purposes like boating and gardening.

Secondly, I really don't get how a person could look at any Croc product and think it was an attractive shoe. Take Hans Brinker, fast-forward a few hundred years, and here we are with modern-day rubber clogs.

Crocs seem to be the ugly, modern step-sister to traditional Dutch footwear. They are bulky, tacky, and in no way attractive - not to mention a major fashion don't.

In all my infatuation with fashion, I have never seen a Croc be the choice shoe on any runway. Could you imagine Karl Lagerfeld forcing all of the models for the Spring 2008 Chanel runway show into hideous pairs of Crocs?

Moreover, I really can't understand when people say they don't care if their Crocs are ugly, they are "sooooo comfy!" Such a statement makes no sense to me.

There are times in this world when comfort must be sacrificed. If you want to stay in an economical hotel, you give up comfort and stay in a Motel 6. If you want to lose weight, you most likely give up comfort food. So, if you want people to take your feet seriously, why don't you give up Crocs? Just an FYI, a pair of ballet flats or flip-flops can still keep your feet happy.

In addition, I will never understand how Crocs became approved as work-appropriate. Crocs have become the choice footwear of many teachers, doctors, nurses, and who knows what other occupations. I find myself even reluctantly admitting that even my own cousin, who is a teacher, is a Crocs fanatic.

In the past, the workplace was a location in which people tried to display a professional and sophisticated air, but now it, too, has been transformed into one of those "comfort zones."

Maybe I am completely ignorant and there is some epiphany that happens when one places a pair of Crocs on his or her feet. Maybe all worldly wants and desires are fulfilled when one slips into a hideously colossal, neon-colored, rubber pair of shoes. Maybe, in fact, Zac Posen incorporated Crocs into his latest line of clothing. I would love to be enlightened on what is so great about Crocs. For now, though, I will remain a proud member of "The Anti-Croc Coalition."

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