Posted on: Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Island feet taking to Crocs
By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer
Crocs are cropping up all around the Islands: on beaches, in healthcare facilities and restaurant kitchens, on boats, in Pilates studios and even at art openings.
Eugene Tanner • The Advertiser for comfort-shoe enthusiasts. Healthcare workers appreciate the fact that Crocs can be sterilized with water and bleach. Since these shoes weigh less than 6 ounces, they can be toted around easily.
With the addition of shades of lime, fuchsia, chocolate and purple, Crocs now come in 17 colors.
Bobbie Okamoto of St. Louis Heights, an artist and vice president of customer relationship management with the Hawai'i Visitors & Convention Bureau, is passionate about her Crocs: "They are heavenly!" she exclaimed. "It's like being barefoot — wide, soft — and you get the trade winds blowing through the pukas."
Muriel Shingle of Kailua loves her red Crocs: "I walk miles and miles in them," she beamed. "I also have a pair that I just wear inside the house — they're better than bare feet."
Crocs retail for around $30 at many Island stores, including AquaZone, BikeFactory, Down to Earth, Downing Hawaii, Shasa Emporium and Kailua Beachwalk (offering a 20 percent discount to doctors and nurses). You can also find them at the Waimea Valley Audubon Center.
This funky shoe phenomenon has caught on with surfers and beach lovers because water and sand pass easily through the air vents in Crocs. Made of a space-age resin that molds to feet when it's warm, Crocs are perfect
Crocs are made of a space-age resin that molds to feet when it's warm. And they come in fun colors like pink, khaki and fuchsia.
