Crocs are horrifyingly ugly. And I've heard they make your feet stink. Ick.

"Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator."

If only people could figure out how to ride escalators without injuring themselves! The world would be a better place.

I love the quote where they try and pass the buck onto escalator safety.

Their shoes are completely safe... until you put them on your feet and step on an escalator.

Another good thing not to do on an escalator: Run up the steps with your hands in your coat pockets. I did that about 20 years ago when I was 7. Tripped and banged my chin on the edge of a step, and I ended up needing a bunch or stitches. Good times...... My chin hurts again just thinking about it.

Ouch.

@slowinthefastlane: That kid is back on the escalator again!

I gotta wonder why we don't hear of every other open-toe shoe manufacturer getting sued... I fractured a toe, badly, once when getting it caught in something due to the sandal design. Did I sue? Heck no, I just took it easy for a few days and taped it up. Did it hurt? Sure. But it was my fault, not the shoemaker's.

They're sandals. Every joe and jane in america with no sense of intelligence has a pair of sandals, even when they aren't on the beach. Some people even wear them with socks. Kinda reminds me of the "Golfers Hat" phase people are still stuck on.

The sandals phase started back in the mid 90s after big companies found a market in selling flip-flops with a make over. Back then, one company called Tiva charged about 60 dollars a pair, and people bought them up. Other companies got involved, and you know the rest of the story from there.

@puyro:

I agree with you there, I wish people had some dignity and would stop wearing those pieces of crap.

As for this escalator incident, I have no sympathy for those people.

@riverstyxxx: Correction: "Teva" is the proper name. Sorry.

This is ridiculous! This is not the fault of the shoe company (even if they are ugly) - it is the fault of some dumb person (kid) not paying attention when riding and escalator!

@stillkarenann & SLOWINTHEFASTLANE : "Now don't get me wrong. I don't wish the kid harm, but his mother should suffer that horrific ordeal so she'll learn how to manage her child!"

@emilymarion333:

You missed the point of the article. It's regardless of whose fault it is. The fact is that the company doesn't care and uses the same public statements as everyone else does.

"Just because a pair of shoes comes in pretty colors with Disney characters on it doesn't make it safe."

Well, DUH.

$7 Million because your kid skinned their toe? I know Band-Aids at the ER are expensive, but come on!

Gah, whatever happened to personal responsibility!?!

Aren't Crocs' 15 minutes about over, anyway? The only people I see wearing them anymore also have on Lance Armstrong bracelets and "Who Killed Kenny?" T-shirts.

Great for boating

I work in a mall in Edina, MN and outside of my store there are 4 escalators. About 6 months ago during the middle of the day we heard blood curdling screams from out in the mall. Peering over the railing what do we see. A little girl with her foot stuck in the bottom of the escalator. The culprit? Crocs.

@puyro: I heard they make people look like pompous lable whores.

Crocs have got to be the ugliest thing since jelly shoes.

the simple answer on this one is... is... wait for it...

you should have taken the fucking stairs dumbass!

then you prolly woulda tumbled down them too... so more logically, you could have done what i do with my child, "hey [insert your child's name], be careful now, watch out on the escalator, and hold onto my hand... get ready to get off and make sure you step over the ledge, so your feet don't get sucked under"... then you watch them and lift 'em over if they need help.

seriously, lol, how can they say anything, but "Escalator safety is an issue we take very seriously, and we are looking into this report"?... i can see it now, every box of shoes you buy from here on out, will have an escalator warning label... give me a fucking break.

@slowinthefastlane: damn you beat me too it

I don't quite get how Crocs make you any more vulnerable to escalator injuries than flip flops, sneakers with untied laces, etc etc. Any shoe can get trapped and pulled in.

Okay, I've read both linked articles (but didn't look at the one linking the post from Sept.) and where exactly does it seem like either mother was not managing their child? Maybe I missed it.

And because Crocs are so popular with people in certain professions, like Mario Batali, because the extra-grippy bottoms helped deal with kitchen messes, why are people thinking all of a sudden that they need extra traction for a regular street?

Aside from the fact that they're the ugliest things and they do make your feet smell.

@jaydez: THere is an appropriate audience for everything. Just like you shouldn't wear dress shoes on a hiking expedition, you shouldn't wear crocs just anywhere.

My Girlfriend wears them to work, because she is a veterinarian and is on her feet all the time. Supposedly they are confy, and easy to clean. Ugly yes, but practical in that situation. SHe's got the good sense to not wear them out anywhere else. Some (most) people don't have the good sense of how to dress. Sweatsuits are also not "going out" wear, and just because pants stretch to fit you, doesn't mean they look good.

That's what you get for wearing crocs. The only thing this report tells me is that if you're dumb enough to wear crocs, you're probably more likely to be too dumb to use an escalator than the average person...

My three-year-old knows that he has to jump over the comb plate, and I hold his hand. He loves the escalator. We spent 20 minutes just going up and down them. It's mommy's fault you're hurt, kid. Sue her for neglect.

any universe where wearing crocs is dangerous is ok by me.

@notsofresh: hahah!! where do people even find those yellow bracelets anymore? they must be hoarders.

i agree. the lawsuits should be against the parents for forcing their kids to wear these tacky shoes in the first place. crocs are to footwear what applebee's is to food.

$7million?

I'd set damages at $20. Tops.

$7Million is pure BS.

It appears that Crocs needs to stop making children's shoes. After looking at them, I would never put them on a child. They look like an accident waiting to happen. Children need sturdy shoes that lace, such as sneakers, or the european style sandals with backs on them. Slingbacks not for kids.

@inspiron:And of course dignity is related to whether or not you approve of someone's footwear.

@riverstyxxx: The point that the company doesn't care is meaningless to many people here. Their point is to impose their impeccable sense of style and/or trash mothers and children. Heaven forbid we should actually talk about the manufacturer's cavalier attitude, or the fact they shouldn't be marketing adult style shoes to children.

@secretcurse: But they're comfortable. Form follows function.

Crocs ugly? What, uglier than Uggs, uglier than Keens, uglier than the KISS styled boots the chicks wear at work, or brown tennis shoes, or tennis shoes worn for anything other than sports? Track shoes, racing shoes, bicycling shoes, their all pretty damn ugly. Wasn't aware Blackwell posted to the Consumerist.

I wear Crocs all the time, and my feet don't get sweaty and stink. My feet do stink after wearing a pair of expensive cap toe leather dress shoes, though.

When I was a kid, back before people were so sue happy, I had the top of my big toe almost completely cut off in one of those cup and saucer rides at an amusement park. I'd worn sandals and they had apparantely forgotten to put the cover back over the gears that turn the cup round and round. The top of the toe dangled by a thread.

I'm not defending this kid or his/her parents but isn't the problem with Crocs and escalators (which everyone seems to be missing) that Crocs are non-skid and they 'stick' to the escalator and the kid can't step off?

They were never good looking. Why still wear them after hearing about toes getting swallowed by escalators?
Although, it's not just your toes getting swallowed, it's your feet's dignity getting swallowed, too.

@SadSam: That's not the escalator-maker's fault! That'd be like suing a concrete manufacturer because their product becomes slippery when wet. They didn't apply the water and the escalator makers didn't apply the non-stick to the shoes.

The situation has gotten so bad that they have signs on the Metro in Washnigton, DC with pictures of crocodiles that say "what do escalators and crocodiles have in common? They love to eat shoes..." There were some 200 cases of croc-related escalator repairs necessary last summer because of stupidity.

@tedyc03:

Sorry, I thought the parents wanted the warning on the shoes... I agree, its not the fault of the escalator company.

@unklegwar: This is how I picture it in my head:

The croc is made of a hard molded resin, which is pliable and rubbery, but resilient to puncture and tearing.

The croc wearer is standing on the escalator with the toe of their shoe pressed against the front step. Since the croc is designed to have great traction, particularly against hard surfaces, and the entire shoe is of uniform material, the toe is catching against the front step.

Near the top of the escalator, when the front step begins to descend into the escalator, instead of sliding, the toe of the croc is fed between the two steps, pulling the shoe, and the foot within, between the escalator steps.

Because crocs have the same pliable, rubber construction all the way to the front of the shoe, they would be particularly vulnerable to this sort of mishap.

@Hanke: I don't think they are any more likely to get caught in the comb plate, but once your shoe is fed between the steps, the plate shears off the front of the shoe, along with your toes.

I gotta get me a pair. Think of the lawsuit bonanza.
I get my toes caught in the already balky DC Metro Escalators of Doom (you know they're bad when they're constantly under repair and there's a PSA campaign about escalator safety), while wearing crocs (who the hell would wear such ugly footwear). Whom to sue, whom to sue?
1- Crocs
2- WMATA
3- The DC government
4- The escalator manufacturer
It's America, sue them all, plus the Department of Labor for not allowing me telework and The US Congress for passing the clean air act incenting me to mass transit.
I love this country.

PS- Crocs are really ugly. Have some pride people!

While we're on the subject, shouldn't this be an incentive for croc wearers to climb some stairs. Maybe it's just living in a big tourist city (washington DC), but the folks who wear crocs in downtown DC are tourists and they usually look like they might be able to put stair climbing to productive use.

Again, it's about pride (Crocs are uglier than flip flops, but just by a hair).

@Kounji: I only clicked on this article to leave those same quotes. That'll teach me not to constantly refresh the page while at work!

The spot where the escalator steps slide under the threshold has always been design flaw that has never been addressed to any effective solution.

It seems that with the level of technical expertise that's able to get us beyond our solar system and out into interstellar space, that something such as an escalator design flaw could be fixed here on Earth.
There would be the usual objections to fixing the promlem such as costs, retrofitting and personal responsibility. However, as long as the design flaws remain, these unfortunate mutilations will continue.

@SadSam: "...that Crocs are non-skid and they 'stick' to the escalator and the kid can't step off?"

uhm... well if that were the case, how did the kid walk onto the escalator or anywhere at all?

@John: Yes, actually, yes. Crocs are indeed uglier than all of the above.

While I think the Croc higher ups are quite insensitive & should address this situation personally instead of blaming it on escalator safety, I do also believe you shouldn't put your kid in Crocs. Atleast if they're at home, fine, but out in public, heck no. First of all, they're butt ugly, and second, due to the construction of the shoe, situations like this & simple trip & fall situations are easy to come by. Kids aren't the most graceful of beings & they need sneakers or a shoe that will actually help them, not hinder them.