CROCS

Crocs, Inc. is a shoe manufacturer founded by 3 friends - Scott Seamans, Lyndon "Duke" Hanson, and George Boedecker, Jr.- to produce and distribute a foam clog design acquired from a Quebec company called Foam Creations. The shoe had originally been developed as a spa shoe. The first model produced by Crocs, the Beach, was unveiled in 2002 at the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show in Florida, and sold out the 200 pairs produced at that time.
Crocs was the title sponsor of the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) Tour from 2006 through the 2009 season.


Some Crocs shoes were tested and recommended by the U.S. Ergonomics company in 2005 and were accepted by the American Podiatric Medical Association in 2009.In 2008, the U.S. government Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a model of Crocs with molded insoles as diabetic footwear, to help reduce foot injuries.
Footwear such as Crocs and flip-flops came under scrutiny in 2006 in the U.S. and 2008 in Japan when children suffered injuries after the shoes became caught in escalator mechanisms,This was due to the soft shoe material combined with the smaller size of children's feet.In 2008, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, after receiving 65 complaints of injuries, requested that Crocs change its design.
Internationally, some healthcare facilities introduced policies in 2007 regulating Crocs. Rapid City Regional Hospital in South Dakota changed its dress code to prohibit the sandal variants and those with holes, citing safety concerns, but allowed closed-top "Professional" and the healthcare-focused "Rx" Crocs to be worn. Over one hundred hospitals in Canada were advised to implement similar policies. Blekinge and Karolinska University hospitals in Sweden banned the wearing of "Forsberg slippers" (Foppatofflor) by staff, due to high voltage static electricity buildup which was observed to interfere with electronic equipment. City hospitals in Vienna, Austria announced banning Crocs, often worn by nursing staff, to comply with antistatic requirements.
Crocs announced the Fuse and two others in 2009, formulated to dissipate static electricity in accordance with European standard EN ISO 20347:2004 (E), for use in the medical sector.

Opinions are polarized about Crocs shoes; many regard them as comfortable and colorfully decorated, others see them as a fashion disaster, and a subculture has emerged of vocal opponents of the shoes. A Washington Post article described the phenomenon: "Nor is the fashion world enamored of Crocs. Though their maker touts their 'ultra-hip Italian styling,' lots of folks find them hideous." Tim Gunn, fashion consultant, told Time Magazine, "...the Croc - it looks like a plastic hoof. How can you take that seriously?" A blog named "I Hate Crocs dot com" follows opposition to the original "luridly coloured Swiss cheese clog-footwear". The Facebook group "I Don't Care How Comfortable Crocs Are, You Look Like a Dumbass", dedicated to eliminating the shoes, has over 1.4 million "likers" as of July 2010