2024-08-13 13:36:48
Crocs were born from the unpredictable encounter between Swedish wooden shoes and McDonald’s. They reflect the formality of the former and the true American business sense of the latter. This marriage is not an easy one, as making money with ugly products is not something everyone can do. The foam-bursting wooden shoes also challenged their expansionism, just like the King of Burgers. The anti-fangs were not entirely wrong.
Their criticisms focus first on aesthetics, or more precisely, on the lack of aesthetics in Crocs. In fact, there is no picture: ugly overall appearance, bulky shape, garish colors, terrible holes in the top, and a badly drawn laughing crocodile logo. In short, the shoe is ugly. Hate to boot Some bloggers Promote destructive behavior. To burn or smash plastic clogs, you can take inspiration from the tutorials on “Ihatecrocs dot com.” You’ll see that it’s not easy. Because Crocs are ugly, and they’re meant to stay that way: They’re virtually indestructible.
Ugly but comfortable
It’s easier to judge Crocs as ugly because the company that sells them admits it. At its beginning. A way to better emphasize their comfort. However, in terms of its essence, it is not easy to evaluate. Philosophers have long been thinking about beauty, and its absolute opposite – ugliness.
Ugliness, undoubtedly too vulgar, remains an undefined category in aesthetic philosophy. In fact, it should not be confused with ugliness. Ugliness repels, demeans, degrades. Ugliness does not carry such a violent feeling. “IhateCrocs dot com” is the exception that proves the rule. Ugliness annoys, but it can also make you smile. Even pleasing is its nonconformist and anti-elitist side. The taste of Ugliness can assert itselfthere is no ugly taste; then this is morbid.
Also read: Flip-flops, the global success for everyone’s feet
An American Story
Let’s leave this unfamiliar territory and turn to the economic sphere. Before examining the case of Crocs Inc., let’s start with a positive point. Its founding story is an example of American virtue in innovation and business creation. In 2002, a Quebec duo of chemists and sailing enthusiasts developed a special foam material to create a non-slip, waterproof, sweat-wicking, lightweight boat shoe. They had great success at sailing shows. It especially attracted the attention of other young people who saw a wider market for this amphibious shoe (hence the Crocs) and two-in-one shoe (they can be worn as a sandal or as a closed sandal by pulling the strap at the back up to the heel).
They were right. Twenty years later, Crocs have sold more than 10 million pairs of shoes. Sell every month. Crocs Inc. has transformed itself into a money-making war machine.
However, the company could have been content to produce foam wooden shoes for its niche market (ship captains and especially health professionals). Hospital staff who spent their days walking quickly adopted the wooden shoes without the heavy wooden soles. This modest, some would say “forearm” strategy would likely have been followed if the company had been born in Europe.
Financial War Machine
But we are in the United States. Like McDonald’s, the goal is to attract everyone from one-year-olds (17-18 years old) to centenarians, from restaurant dishwashers to the White House occupants. Well, not everyone! If George W. Bush wore themBarack Obama has never been seen wearing Crocs on his feet. Elegance requires.
War Machine is first and foremost a financial machine. Four years after its creation, Crocs Inc. went public. It joined the ranks of big American stars that have grown strongly on the Nasdaq market: Apple, Amazon, Starbucks, etc. A few years later, Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, invested $200 million. Other major investment funds will soon follow.
The influx of dollars helps Crocs Inc. grow fast. And get more, much more. By accelerating production? No, you’re not there. Crocs Inc. factories will close one after another. Money demands high profits, forcing manufacturing to be outsourced. Foam wooden shoes will be molded at low cost in Asia. In China, Indonesia and Vietnam, no longer in Canada, Italy or even Mexico. The money will be invested in distribution, opening its own stores (currently more than 300) and developing online sales (to account for 38% of revenues by 2023).
Customized Crocs: The key to selling at a higher price
Money also allows you to grow through acquisitions. Let’s mention two of the most notable. A couple from Colorado took great pleasure in filling their family’s Crocs with small pieces representing flowers, fruits and animals. Their charms were an overwhelming success among friends, and the couple set up a studio and created a company. A year later, Crocs Inc. acquired it. Today, thousands of these trinkets adorn wooden clogs. My favorite: the protruding fake toe, available in three skin tones. The acquisition made it possible to accelerate customization for Crocs, a winning strategy for increasingly expensive sales.
Crocs Inc. acquires Heydude, another champion of light casual shoes that is not quite original. As the typically American name (French for “Hey, dude”) does not indicate, it is an Italian company. Its canvas shoes are very successful in the United States. The purchase price is $2.5 billion. Crocs Inc. does not regret this diversification choice: it has thus doubled the size of the company and reduced the inherent risk of a single product. This is a particularly high risk in the fashion industry, as consumers can quickly abandon something they cherish the day before.
Marketing from hell
The foam wooden shoe war machine also relies on hellish marketing and anti-aircraft battery brand protection. Crocs Inc. has adopted a model of collaboration that has been very successful in the field of sports shoes: working with celebrities and fashion designers to promote its products and make them fashionable. We can no longer count the music or movie stars who earn money through their fanged images on red carpets and social networks. Let’s quote pop star Justin Bieber, who dared to put socks on a model! Or Chinese brand ambassador actress Yang Mi and her 112 million followers on Weibo. As for the creators, we will remember, among other things, Balenciaga and its Hardcrocs mules And its high heel shoe models.
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Successful transformation: fangs are no longer ugly and comfortable; they have become cool and hyped. No more excuses to never wear them beyond your French door or garden gate. Instead, act like everyone else. (In France, even Roseline Bachelot and the Prince of Monaco wear them.) American marketing has successfully convinced many people that fangs can change their lives. But after all, weren’t Cinderella, Tom Thumb and the cat’s owner saved by a pair of shoes?
Lawyers
Crocs Inc. has built an impressive defense against counterfeit products. “We are taking aggressive action regarding copying. Global IP Infringement and Customs Seizures “. This warning on crocs.com leaves no doubt. A team of professional lawyers stands guard to defend thousands of patents, trademarks, registered designs and models. This all-round protection acts as a deterrent. For small and medium-sized businesses that cannot keep up with legal expenses. Those big companies know that if they manage to invalidate one of Crocs Inc.’s patents in front of a judge, the foam wooden shoe company will hide behind other intellectual property rights. The American distribution giant Wal-Mart, which was attacked for counterfeiting, would rather admit defeat.
The flaws of the American system Intellectual property is well knownBy always overprotecting depositors, it has become the allocator of a monopoly that is getting bigger and harder to challenge. Second Generation InnovationCrocs Inc.’s foam clogs shouldn’t be threatened in the U.S., where the company gets two-thirds of its sales. It will be more difficult in Asia, where flip-flops remain king of shoes anyway.
If you’ve read my previous article on going barefoot, you’ll understand that I have sympathy for flip-flops. On one hand, there are generic, unadorned shoes worn by billions of women, men, and children. Anyone can make and sell them, from anonymous companies to branded shoe giants. On the other hand, there are porous foam clogs — zero pornography — who want to conquer the world with dollars, trinkets, influencers, acquisitions, and patents. All the while expanding their monopoly. Time magazine wasn’t wrong to include Crocs in the mix. List of the 50 Worst Inventions.
François Lévesque does not work for, advise, hold shares in, receive any funding from any organization that could benefit from this article, and declares no affiliations other than his research organization.
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