LJWorld.com / Worries about Crocs' safety may be exaggerated

Archive for Sunday, September 23, 2007

By Leslie Earnest - Los Angeles Times

September 23, 2007

Is the Crocs scare a crock?

The popular, brightly colored clog-style shoes are being identified on the Internet and in news reports as so dangerous on escalators that some parents apparently won't let their children wear them anymore.

Although the injury reports are worrying, the focus on Crocs might be deflecting attention from an array of soft shoes that moving stairways like to grab. Sandals and flip-flops, for example, are most commonly snared by escalators in Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority subway stations, which have more escalators than any other U.S. transit system, the authority's David Lacosse said.

"Crocs," he said, are "getting a raw deal."

Crocs Inc. agrees, and statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission support the company. The agency said that of the 53 reports in its files over a five-year period about escalator-footwear tangles, Crocs were named in four, with one resulting in an injury.

Crocs over the years have been blamed for transgressions ranging from creating static electricity that can disrupt hospital machines (apparently nurses love the shoes) to being unnecessarily ugly.

The company said it knew of no reason that its shoes would be any more susceptible to static electricity than sneakers or other types of footwear that medical professionals favor.

Crocs' popularity might be part of the problem. The Boulder, Colo., company that has sold about 50 million pairs of Crocs since they hit the market in November 2002 called the shoes "completely safe." That Crocs scooped up 5.2 percent of the industry's "lifestyle casual" market has "struck and surprised" other footwear executives, said Bill Boettge, president of the National Shoe Retailers Association.

Crocs' sales jumped to $354.7 million last year from $108.6 million in 2005. In the first six months of this year, sales hit $366.3 million.

The company has expanded its product line, with even a limited line of clothing. Celebrity chef Mario Batali, who owns dozens of Crocs, mainly orange, has teamed with the company to produce his signature Bistro model, which will be available this fall, according to his Web site.

Knockoffs of the rubbery molded shoes are everywhere, and some also are getting stuck in escalators.

"The popularity of our shoes has helped draw attention to a long-existing issue that we think is very important - escalator safety," Crocs spokeswoman Tia Mattson said in an e-mail.

The statistics don't matter much if you've watched an escalator gnaw on your child's shoe. Maryam Banikarim, chief marketing officer for Univision Communications Inc., was on an airport escalator with her 7-year-old- son Nicholas Lerner on Labor Day when he "started screaming bloody murder."

"The side of the escalator is sucking up his shoe and foot at the same time," she said. "It was terrifying." His foot required 10 stitches.

Discussion

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23 September 2007
at 8:08 a.m.

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KS (Anonymous) says…

Pick them up and put them down and you won't have this problem.
23 September 2007
at 8:35 a.m.

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tangential_reasoners_anonymous (Anonymous) says…

Special shoes are required for bowling. I think that it's high time that we enforced the wearing of “Escalator Shoes” in malls across this great nation.
23 September 2007
at 8:58 a.m.

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mom_of_three (Anonymous) says…

I know someone who lost a toe in an escalator accident, and Crocs were not involved.
Those escalators can be very dangerous for young children, no matter then footwear.
23 September 2007
at 9:02 a.m.

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classclown (Anonymous) says…

I never heard of Crocs before. But then, my fashion sense isn't dictated by the name on the label.
23 September 2007
at 10:12 a.m.

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areyouserious (Anonymous) says…

What a crock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are people really that stupid, that they can't properly use an escalator without being eaten by it. This is ludicrous
23 September 2007
at 10:18 a.m.

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tangential_reasoners_anonymous (Anonymous) says…

areyouserious says: “Are people really that stupid, that they can't properly use an escalator without being eaten by it.”

Apparently, children (and household pets) are most at risk… of being snapped up by escalators… and coyotes.
23 September 2007
at 1:14 p.m.

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Confrontation (Anonymous) says…

The real concern here is that people actually have such bad fashion taste that they will wear these ugly Crocs!