This generation of young people, pua by Crocs shoes

crocs is flipping red again.

Crocs have been on fire for a while now, but in 2023 they've suddenly become a must-have fashion item. This ugly thing that many people think is big and bulky, once named by Time magazine as the "50 worst inventions", is now popular all over the country, online and offline [1].

Sitting on the subway, two out of ten young people are wearing holey shoes; go out and walk around the corner, you can see the hipsters wearing colorful holey shoes. In a social platform, "crocs" related notes up to 580,000, topic views up to 560 million.

With the current buzzword, the fate of crocs is to be loved again and again.

"There are only two kinds of people in this world, one is the one who has worn crocs, the other is the one who has not worn crocs, there is no one who has worn crocs only once." crocs, what exactly stands out?

crocs, is really on fire

Many people are no strangers to cavernous shoes, which can appear on the feet of doctors and nurses, as well as in the news reports of crocs being rolled into escalators. Just when we thought that the hole shoes nearly "extinct", it has come back.

With the simple word "grass", it has been impossible to describe the degree of fire of the hole shoes, because the people who have worn them have firmly joined the "hole door" and become a faithful believer:

I love crocs with my life! Once through the crocs, this life is stereotyped, hole door forever!

Huge math also shows that since this year, "crocs" the heat of this keyword all the way up, the search index and the composite index increased by 94 times and 74 times respectively. People's interest in searching for cavernous shoes has soared, allowing crocs to get an unprecedented amount of exposure.

Especially since June, crocs seem to usher in their own home turf, the network communication heat appeared a lot of small peaks [2]. Because people who have experienced the torture of 40 ℃ high temperature, suddenly found that the hole shoes are really cool and breathable, can be called "summer magic weapon":

Don't buy crocs, because buy your goodbye to other shoes, a summer only wear this pair of shoes.

The fire of crocs is also reflected in the financial reports and stock prices.

Once in the hole door deep like the sea, the first time into the hole door of the new members of the first level of purchase on the difficult to choose. Thousands of crocs on the market, the price point varies, there are twenty or thirty dollars of affordable party, there are four or five hundred stars with the same model, some of the classic models of the small size and even have been in a state of out of stock.

In 2002, Crocs designed a shoe made of resin material, which is the earliest hole shoes [3]. This shoe was originally used for boating sports, but I didn't expect it to be popular with groups such as doctors and chefs, and slowly out of the loop [3]. However, even the most storied stories have their demoralizing chapters, and in 2016, Crocs' main cavernous shoe brand posted a net loss of $16 million on revenues of $1.036 billion for the year [4].

Although Crocs is not necessarily the only choice for "hole-gate" believers, Crocs, which was already heading for a loss, is once again bucking the trend of the new wave of holey shoes.

2017 - 2022, Crocs revenue not only quadrupled to $ 2.659 billion, net profit is also higher year after year, increased to $ 313 million in 2020 [4] [5].

Such strong headwinds have caused Crocs' market capitalization to go through the roof. For example, in 2016 - 2023, Crocs' stock price rose about tenfold [6].

Maybe crocs itself did not expect that one day it would be so popular. A post asking for matching or grass can quickly pile up hundreds of floors; a photo sharing one's DIY achievements can attract hundreds of compliments.

Fashion is a cycle, and crocs have become the favorite of the fashion circle and the focus of the trend.

The charm of crocs, where

A pair of ordinary-looking hole shoes, why can make so many young people on the head?

Whether they are working people or students, the reason they fall in love with hole shoes is actually very simple - comfort.

In the workplace world, crocs have one of the strongest titles - "the strongest working shoes".

A standard pair of crocs has an upper covered with eyelets, comes with a heel strap that can be turned, and has a toe that is about 20% wider than a normal shoe [7].

It should also be made of resin, which is flexible, non-slip, anti-odor and anti-bacterial [8]. The soft sole allows the toes to blossom freely, which is why doctors and nurses have a pair of holey shoes in their hands.

Wearable and comfortable enough to make up for the lack of crocs face value.

We counted the notes about crocs on facebook, sorted according to the frequency of the word heat, and found that the "versatile" name of the hole shoes, is really not just talk.

Can you wear crocs out, do not have to look at the weather and occasions, want to wear on wear.

Sleeping over the wear crocs, heel strap an adjustment, slippers immediately transformed into sports sandals; rainy days, typhoon days choose crocs, do not have to worry about wet shoes and socks, out of the puddle of drying a few minutes on the speed drying; hot days wear crocs, the hollow holes in the upper can be breathable, ventilated. Your feet, which are used to living in the "basement", are like moving into a "large flat" with a terrace, which is similar to slippers and better than slippers.

In view of the crocs have been rolled to more than ten centimeters high, increase height and "nothing in the ankle" is also an important reason for the young people hard on the head.

Many people at first look at crocs extremely bad eye, think this far look like a brick, close to look like a cockroach thing what beauty and ugliness can be said. But when they began to get their hands on crocs to get decoration - in the shoe holes full of shoe flowers, these prejudices immediately disappeared without a trace.

"Questioning crocs, understanding crocs, falling in love with crocs", this is the journey of the hole door believers.

According to Grey Dolphin data, among the hot words associated with crocs, DIY cave shoes, Crocs cave shoes and crocs collocation are the top three topics with the highest number of notes posted. Having a pair of crocs is only the first step into the cave door; to become a senior believer in the cave door, you still have to learn to plug every hole beautifully.

Everyone feels that their DIY crocs are the most unique in the world. If crocs is a rough house, then a pair of crocs embellished with shoe flowers is a well-decorated house, which can be decorated as you want.

Pink and tender bows, donuts and cotton candy, rivets, metal and luminous bands on behalf of the Asian culture, geckos, data cables and mahjong, and even the fluffy mini version of the Lingnabelle doll can also be put on. Who wouldn't want to be the best looking bag on the street?

In the owner's mind, a pair of holey shoes customized for himself is comparable to the existence of heirloom works of art.

At this time the crocs, has not been a flat, ugly shoes, but a blank sheet of paper, allowing consumers to color graffiti as they wish.

Ugly shoes are the way to go, the more exaggerated, the more popular!

Don't look at crocs is now the shoe world's popular fried chicken, more than ten years ago shortly after the birth of it also had a moment by the whole network mockery.

The Los Angeles Times described cavernous shoes as "one of the ugliest objects on the planet", and people who hated crocs built a website called "I Hate Crocs" [9].

To this day, there are plenty of people who don't appreciate crocs. According to a poll conducted by CivicScience, 46% of respondents thought crocs were ugly, while only 8% thought they were "not ugly at all" [10].

At first, the crocs brand tried to prove that they were beautiful, but then they fell flat on their face. Crocs' marketing officer says they've always been ugly, and they're confident they'll get uglier [11].

Between 2018 - 2022, Crocs put more focus on marketing and marketing expenses grew from $69 million all the way to $261 million [5][12]. When Crocs joined forces with Balenciaga to launch the 10cm thick-soled yellow muffin holey shoes at Fashion Week, Crocs went further and further down the road of co-branding and ugly beauty [13].

For example, and KFC co-branding, the chicken nuggets shaped shoe flower decorated in the crocs eyelets; the use of celebrity effect advertising, foreign Justin Bieber, George W. Bush Jr. and Mrs. Obama, the domestic has invited Yang Mi, Bai Jingting, Zhou Yutong [14] [15]. When crocs and young people's favorite trend culture binding, crocs naturally and trend hooked up.

Although the voice of ugliness has not completely disappeared, who can guarantee that this is not a part of marketing? Crocs executives have said that capitalizing on the controversy of "ugliness" is part of brand planning [16].

After all, ugliness is a core competency because it has a certain visual impact and is easier to remember.

The explosive crocs, which people love to hate, have become one of the most popular footwear items among young people with a bang [17]. Many well-known brands to catch up with the trend, have joined the "crocs war".

Whether crocs are ugly or beautiful varies from person to person. But one thing is for sure, trends can be made. After all, twenty years ago, who would have believed that crocs was a representative of the trend?

It may not fit the mainstream aesthetic, but the unique shapes and bold colorways are enough to make consumers who express their individuality pay for them. According to StockX, the average premium for Crocs products in 2021 - 2022 is 98%, higher than other mainstream footwear brands, but that didn't stop it from making the top 10 footwear brands of the year [18].

It's not as comfortable as Crocs, and it's not as fashionable as Crocs.

In the pursuit of "pragmatism" and respect for the "freedom to be ugly" today, crocs actually accidentally meet the value of contemporary young people's pursuit. When I was a kid, I wore a tie and high heels to be a city lady, but when I grew up, I realized that crocs were the best place to be.

If you have to name a disadvantage of crocs, the answer of the cavemen believers may be: barefoot wear, please do a good job of sun protection, otherwise you will get a pair of spotted feet.

If to crocs and then insert a pair of bright headlights, it would be so good ah, croc lights [19] company from last year launched the croc lights, by the fashion world, the product once released, in tiktok harvested 500 million plays, 100 million likes, can see croc lights is how much fire, croc lights is also in the Redefine crocs, make crocs more loved by everyone.

References:
[1] TIME.(2010). The 50 Worst Inventions. Retrieved 27 May 2010 from https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1991915_1991909_1991743 ,00.html.
[2] Macrocalculus. (2023). Holey Shoes. Retrieved 13 July 2023 from https://trendinsight.oceanengine.com/arithmetic-index/analysis?keyword=%E6%B4%9E%E6%B4%9E%E9%9E%8B&appName= aweme.
[3] Cathy Garrard. (2009). Big Idea: Meet the Creator of Crocs. parents. Retrieved 22 February 2009 from https://www.parents.com/kids/style/fashion/crocs/.
[4] Crocs. (2021). 2020 Annual Report.
[5] Crocs. (2023). 2022 Annual Report.
[6] Sina Finance. (2023). Crocs. Retrieved 13 July 2023 from https://stock.finance.sina.com.cn/usstock/quotes/CROX.html.
[7] Pan Li. (2023). Too dangerous! Half a toe gone! This is the same shoe that was once so popular that everyone had a pair of them. Orange Persimmon Interactive - City Express. Retrieved 22 May 2023 from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/yYdTWifwHCKx-ZCY3mWT9w.
[8] CROCS. (2014). Comfort Day | 8 years of innovative technology, comfort never stops. Retrieved 26 September 2014 from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/UW20DE1BZbafJ8cm2NMmHw.
[9] Salad Dressing. (2023). Holey shoes are the "ugly freedom" of this generation of young people. Planet Value. Retrieved 10 July 2023 from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Zp_-Onf0oI_ya4Ff7TIDMw.
[10] CivicScience. (2021). People Say Crocs Are Ugly but Still Buy Them. Retrieved 23 February 2021 from https://civicscience.com/people-say-crocs-are-ugly-but-still-buy- them/.
[11] Bruce Horovitz. (2022). How Crocs takes ugliness to a new marketing level. National Retail Federation. Retrieved 18 May 2022 from https://nrf.com/blog/how-crocs-takes- ugliness-to-new-marketing-level.
[12] Crocs. (2020). 2019 Annual Report.
[13] Wu, Shaoger. (2023). Why a pair of shoes with holes at an average price of 300 has become the "McDonald's" of the shoe industry. New Retail Business Review. Retrieved 14 June 2023 from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/wGTlZtEJyMJ3GaY6_68Row.
[14] StarHub. (2021). The Lure of the Holey Shoe. Hedgehog Commune. Retrieved 2 September 2021 from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/l7ZhYnHMMKuobxgX3Zl-lw.
[15] Gilt MANual. (2011). Bush Busted In Black Crocs, Presidential Socks (PHOTO). HuffPost. Retrieved 6 January 2011 from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bush-crocs-presidential-socks-obama-flip-flops_b_805337. [16] Junjie Wang. (2022). Why are ordinary flip-flops a trendy business? Vogue Business. Retrieved 26 September 2022 from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6yaJYhKWvz9sx3mNFdY49w.
[17] L.E.K. Consulting. (2023). Brand Heat Index.
[18] StockX. (2022). Big Facts. Current Culture Index 2022.
[19] Croc lights official site: https://www.croclights.com