Crocs, ugly shoe, beautiful cause
Fri Feb 01, 2008 at 11:07:18 AM PDT
My name is Suzanne and I live in the beautiful Florida Keys. The "official" music is Jimmy Buffett, the "official" cuisine is seafood, and the "official" shoe is the ubiquitous Croc.
I have not always lived in the Keys, though I am am Florida native, and I have resisted the Croc with all of the disdain left in my once fashion-forward body. Yes, I drop my daughter off to school in my work out clothes (I am going to the gym) and my hair is permanently in a bun or a ponytail, but I have not yet given up on fashionable footwear.
My daughter and husband both love the worst of their "styles" too, the "clog" with the strap. Darling Girl even decorates hers with flower charms. My husband wears his so frequently that recently he discovered a small hole developing in the sole, which brings me to my problem.
While I supported my husband's desire to purchase himself a new pair of Crocs, I was somewhat disappointed that he hadn't gotten over this "fad" shoe and wasn't buying more sensible or at least better looking casual footwear. His new pair came in last weekend, and the old ones languished in the foyer, waiting to be put out of their misery and into the trash. I imagined these dusty blue shoes lingering there in a landfill, surrounded by pet rocks, hula-girl ties, and my 4th grade collection of "jelly" bracelets. All these quickly abandoned trends filling our garbage dumps with mysteries for an archaeologist 10,000 years from now. "They were an inherently silly people..." the archaeologist will say as she displays a petrified "Billy Big Mouth Bass" to a stunned audience.
Then while browsing the almighty interweb yesterday I discovered Crocs had created a foundation for recycling old worn-out Crocs into brand new shoes for people in Malawi, Haiti and elsewhere. Major, major conflict for me! No conflict about what to do with the OLD shoes, no, those will be shipped tomorrow; but now the dreadful temptation to buy Crocs for MYSELF! Guilt-ridden liberal Catholic that I am, how can I ignore both recycling and the indigent?
Last year our church sponsored a shoe drive for children in South America. We collected hundreds of pairs of different sneakers for children who would not have shoes otherwise. I know shoes are badly needed in many places, and are a major health issue. I mean, walking miles each day for basic things like food and water, risking foot injury or just plain sore, tired feet, makes shoes a major charitable issue. But the genius of Crocs is that they are light, of uniform shape, and are recyclable! They are easily shipped in batches of thousands! What if Crocs next step is to put recycling centers in these countries? Would this become a source of revenue for these communities? How many times could these shoes be re-used?
Man, if Christian Loboutin had this program I wouldn't have to think for a minute!
www.solesunited.com
