I, too, am a fellow Floridian. I grew up in Miami.

Thanks for the link to the shoe charity. I am with you: I love shoes, with Steve Madden and Baby Phat being my favorites. And I have the same idea as you. What my husband, kids and I do is pack up a suitcase with all the clothes, shoes, and accessories we no longer wear and take them to my mother-in-law in El Salvador. She distributes it between her church and employees. (She owns a business.) We tend to go to El Salvador at least once a year to visit her.

And rather than continuously buy shoes, my friends and I hold "clothing swaps," parties in which we bring in all the clothes, shoes and accessories we no longer wear, take what we want and distribute the rest to charity. So many of my clothes and shoes are from clothing swaps!

Thanks for the post and for "de-lurking." :-)

it's a shame they're so hideously ugly.

I wear a pair of Danskos almost every day September-May--they are now seven years old, and they are nowhere near being retired. They are almost as ugly as Crocs but not quite.

I wish there were more ways to get old shoes to people who really need them. Most charities take only new or very lightly used shoes, but I can't help thinking the Geox pairs my son goes through would really be apprciated by someone, somewhere, even though they are too shabby and worn for charities around here.

Minnmom, the thing I like most about the crocs charity is that the shoes are brand new! Its the recycling aspect I find MOST praise-worthy. These people need shoes that will be hardy and last them awhile, and while I don't know that Crocs would be better than say, Nikes, at least they are new and at the beginning of their useful life.

As far as my daughter's regular old shoes, she has 4 cousins younger than herself. They go to my sisters and sis-in-laws regularly. Darling Girl is only 5 so she is at the age where she outgrows shoes before she wears them out. Maybe your son's Geox could be passed to a school friend w/ a younger sibling?

Thank You, Elisa for the warm Floridian Welcome! I am so pleased about de-lurking. Plus, I envy you your trips to El Salvador!

I resisted for a long time, too, because the clogs are not attractive at all.  However, when they stated making other styles I went for it.  I got a pair of Mary Janes for my birthday and they quickly became my favorite shoe.  They were the first pair of shoes that I could put on right away and didn't have to break in.  

I love the Soles United program and think it's just wonderful.  I wonder if they'll be able to take all the "knock off" types that have sprung up and do something with those as well.

I blogged about crocs almost a whole year ago, February 5th, in Shoes of the Future. I still only have the one, loud, orange pair, now scribbled upon by my 20 mos old baby.

I love my ugly crocs (especially with a baby: no need to bend over to put them on, and they are better than being barefoot, they're THAT comfortable).

What a relief that there is a recycle program, because I know that if there wasn't, my shoes would outlive me in a landfill somewhere.

Have you ever been in a store that recently received a new shipment of crocs?  It is downright toxic!  
That said, my feet are pretty big (10ish) and crocs in that size look like giant barges on a canal.  Very big/very wide...they are not cute on my feet by any measure.  

but you are making a really good case for them!

I used to live in Florida too.  I went to high school in NE Orlando in the early-mid 80's.  Then I went to UF in Gainesville after that for a short time.  One of my best friends from college is from the Keys... Tavernier.  Her very large Irish-Catholic family moved there from Chicago in the late 60's/early 70's and bought a resort which they all ran for years.  I haven't been down there in a long time and it's one of my favorite places.  Which part of the Keys are you in?

I got the Mary Jane crocs last summer.  I had a pair of the old clunky kind, but I couldn't bring myself to wear them in public.  The mary jane ones look similar in pictures, but in person they are so much narrower and more feminine-looking, I think.  Of course, I'm in Colorado where about 90% of people walking around are wearing crocs.  I went to Manhattan over the summer and it was even easier to spot the tourists than usual.  They were all wearing crocs (ok, we, I must admit I brought mine).  None of the New Yorkers had them on.

I am running a 5K race tomorrow as part of the Surf City Marathon and went to the Expo today to pick up my bib number. Crocs is a sponsore and they had a display with all these new, cute styles. The ad even said "It's hard to believe the parents were ugly." LOL.

I am talking
true mary janes, strappy sandals, even a high-heeled sandal!

I've been anti-Croc until now, just because they were hideously ugly. But I'm in California so I will definitely be investing in a pair of these for beach visits. AND...since the new styles aren't on sale yet, they gave me a coupon code for free shipping if I want to order online. Just enter the code "eventrunner" at checkout.

Happy shopping!

I was looking at some of the styles, and they even have a "snow boot" out now, which makes me giggle. This just goes to show that by engaging a consumer's civic and environemental conscience that these companies can market themselves to some pretty tough customers. I mean, I was VEHEMENTLY anti-croc prior to this!