For around the house and yard - traditional Crocs. I don’t trust the off brand, and have loved wearing them! Very, very comfortable. I also used to work in fashion retail, so my feet were so sore after a long day in heels on tile. My Crocs felt like heaven by the end of the day.
(not in default colour shown - the chocolate does not appeal to me!). They used to come in black, and went with everything. A very unassuming shoe, didn’t draw attention to the Croc-ness of it.
I agree with SciFiSam - I think their only real problem is the number of knock-off’s. How many people in this thread alone said they bought theirs off-brand?
I loved my Crocs for all of the reasons stated thus far: comfy, lightweight, cool, washable, fun colors.
Notice I said LOVED.
Last fall I started having heel pain. Went to the podiatrist and found out I had bone spurs and the associated plantar fasciitis. He made me a pair of orthotics, had me start wearing good, supportive shoes all the time, and told me to ditch the Crocs. “But they’re so comfy! I love them! Nurses love them!” But apparently they are also terrible for your feet because they provide no arch support. They didn’t cause the bone spur, but they sure aggravated it.
So sadly, I gave away my four pairs of Crocs. A year later the heel pain is gone, and I can even wear not-so-great shoes once in a while. But I’ve kissed the Crocs goodbye. (Apparently just in time.)
I have an off brand from Lands End, I think called Cellos or something. They are indeed comfortable. So much so I have worn them while cutting grass. On very sunny days. Now my feet have a tanned square checkerboard pattern to them.
My foot is narrow so Crocs don’t fit me, but I looove these. These are NOT a Croc offbrand, but a respected brand in itself, and at $40 actually more expensive than Crocs. I wear them almost every day - even in light rain as the ventilation holes are on the side rather than the bottom. They (and Crocs) are ugly, but I’m at the stage in my life where comfort is more important than beauty, and damn but these are comfortable. The soles are so springy and cushy. When I go back to normal shoes I really notice it.
I can’t wear them - I have narrow feet too, they just fall straight off.
So I don’t really understand Blue Mood’s narrow-foot-friendly brand - they’re mules too, so why don’t they just slip off the back of your foot? I can’t wear anything that doesn’t grip good round the heel.
Lots and LOTS of kids round here wear them all the time. I bought some for the Smaller Girl - I hate them, they’re constantly slipping off her feet. Unfortunately she adores them (they’re pink…) so I guess I just have to wait for her to outgrow them.
An article I read in the Chicago Tribune suggested that besides trends it was because if plastic shoes don’t wear out, then after a certain point, you don’t need any more. They also may have expanded too fast in an economy about to burst - did you know they had an athletic gear company, and bought at least one of those “shoe trinket” companies too - and a quote from the company head suggested they thought the growth would just continue. No matter the product, after a while you’re going to level off in demand.
As An Arky said, they have a strap that can be worn forward like a clog, or behind your heel. But, the footbed is different from Crocs. The Crocs footbed are way too wide at the back - even with the strap. The Quark ones are narrow enough in the back that they stay on (even without the strap).
As for the kids shoes, my daughter has these by Skechers. My little boy has these. I absolutely love them for the kids. They can be worn with or without socks, are water, dirt, and smell proof, and unlike the Crocs they fit really well. They have a velcro strap so they stay on, are wide at the toes for wriggle room, and narrow at the heel so no heel slippage.
I have been wearing the same pair of black Crocs to work almost every day to work since the fall of 2005 - they are looking kind of sad at the moment, and I need to replace them. But when I get around to it, it will be another pair of them, provided that they’re still being made!
I find them to be the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn, not to mention the lightest! Putting on my Docs after my Crocs feels crazy with heaviness!
Biggest bonus. ALL of my summer-without-socks shoes STINK. The Crocs NEVER smell. Also, you can just throw them in the dishwasher. I do need to buy a pair of the newer, cuter ones, though!
Crocs Alice, they look like Mary Janes (even more than the Mary Jane style of Crocs does). I think they’re cute and I wanted a pair of red flats, so I decided to go with these ones because I heard how comfortable they were.
They feel comfortable when I first put them on, but after I take them off if I’ve been walking in them, my foot muscles cramp. Like my toes get stiff/won’t bend/seize up. I keep giving them another shot every now and again and sometimes they are OK, but mostly I leave them alone nowadays.
I hate shoe problems that you don’t find out about until after you’ve bought/worn the shoes multiples times.
Incredibly comfortable. I went through a bout of plantar fasciitis a while back. My foot doc recommended Crocs and I tried them. I’ve worn out three pairs.
I love my Crocs. Like a couple of other posters, I have a brown pair with the leather insert on the top, so they don’t really look like Crocs unless you look closely. I don’t like the colorful ones, but these brown ones look kind of nice in a bohemian sort of way and they’re amazingly comfortable. Plus it’s very convenient to be able to just slip my feet into them if I have to go outside for something.
I think Crocs are extremely comfortable. I love them and have several pairs. I have some of the regular clog style that are dark grey and so they don’t stand out a lot or anything and I think they look fine. I also have some Crocs flip flops that don’t look bad at all because they just look like flip flops, but still very comfortable. And I have some black Mammoths, which have a fuzzy lining for cold weather. I like that I don’t have to wear socks with them, because I hate socks.
I wear them all the time to take out the trash or whatever, and just about every day when I take my daughter to school. She has a few pairs also and loves them too. I think they look cute on kids.
What I do not like at all are the ballet flat style. I have a pair but never wear them because I find them uncomfortable.
If I wear mine for more than a couple of hours, I have heel pain the next day.
There is no heel support at all. Infact the only reason the arch is supported, is because the heel area is “scooped out”.