As the owner of three (yes THREE) pairs of Crocs, this story caught my eye.
The safety of Crocs shoes is being questioned.

Japan questions Crocs’ safety
by Zac Bissonnette

After losing about 40% of its value last week, Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX) has another headache.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that “Japan has asked the maker of Crocs to look into changing the design of its footwear after complaints that children wearing the colorful plastic clogs have had their feet injured on escalators.”

The company has faced similar accusations in the United States and Crocs is reportedly working with the Elevator/Escalator Safety Foundation (I can’t believe that even exists) on public education initiatives.

What does all this mean for Crocs? Probably not much beyond the company’s already dismal financial results, although the posters warning about the dangers of Crocs near escalators in Japan probably won’t do much to spur sales.

Crocs’ dramatic fall from grace has been an interesting story to watch, and the company just doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break.

The safety concerns are not disclosed as risk factors in Crocs’ latest 10-K, indicating that the company’s management may not see them as a material threat to sales.

The safety concerns are not disclosed as risk factors in Crocs’ latest 10-K, indicating that the company’s management may not see them as a material threat to sales.

Truthfully, I don’t particularly like Crocs. They irritate my feet unless I wear socks with them. And it looks a little silly to wear socks with Crocs. However, they are so convenient. Similar to the convenience of flip-flops but without that annoying band between the toes. So, I wear them on occasion.

Crocs are a fad, though, and like all fads, they will fade. Something else will arrive on the scene to take their place. They might remain as a type of gardening, all-weather shoe. However, they DO look cloddish, and something so silly looking can’t be popular for long.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 11:22 am and is filed under Business, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.