I Hate Crocs dot com.

Best Chicken

2012-01-30T13:58:00.001-04:00

Hello NY Times readers

2012-01-11T22:17:00.010-04:00

Welcome.

I rarely update this site anymore, but I'm always doing new things at my website located on the Internet here.

I also have a travel blog and miscellaneous ridiculous thing blog called Junior Pigeon.

You can also follow me on Twitter here.

For the IHATECROCS store, go HERE.

Years of blog posts are archived for your reading pleasure below. Thanks for visiting.

Our Legacy

2011-09-28T18:36:00.004-03:00

Crocs, as a company, really does try. You have to give them that, if nothing else – they honestly, sincerely want you to put on their shoes. They promise customers that the feeling of slipping one on is incomparable and that Crocs may just be the most comfortable shoes ever invented. They'd really rather you not mention the fact that they may simultaneously be the ugliest. Just try them on. They swear you'll never want to take them off, so long as you don't look down.

It's a fine goal, to be sure, but there are more holes in that logic than in the shoes themselves. There's no getting around the simple fact that Crocs are ugly. It is a truth universally acknowledged. Even the most deluded Crocs lover will concede this point, though they will invariably swap the word ‘ugly’ for ‘quirky’ or ‘unusual’. Regardless, the end result is the same: these people know that the footwear they don is unattractive. They are large, chunky, lurid and punctured with holes. They are to your eyes what second-hand smoke is to your lungs.

They're not even tolerably ugly like cheap flip-flops or Birkenstocks. They're blaringly, violently distasteful and while most trends of such an obviously unfashionable nature don't tend to survive for exceptionally long, Crocs have. They've spread like an infection to the furthest reaches of the globe. People, for no discernible reason whatsoever, are dying to get their hands on the most unsightly footwear imaginable. Consumers worldwide are abandoning their dignity and going out on the town in their neon orange – or pink, or blue, or yellow – Crocs.

The question remains: why does anyone wear these Crocs? It can be chalked up to mass insanity, but if one were to ask the average Crocs fan why they wear them, they will undoubtedly answer, “Because they’re extremely comfortable,” repeating the same argument that goaded them into trying the monstrosities on in the first place. These Crocs people truly believe that this is reason enough to wear these hideous shoes. Following this logic, they must believe that going to the market wearing only their underwear or a bathrobe and slippers is just as acceptable.

The most disturbing aspect is that the level of comfort that can be gained from a pair of Crocs is minimal at best. The rubber-like substance that the Crocs are made from sticks to the sole of your foot like hot tar and the strange friction of the shoe against the ground makes it nearly impossible to walk normally, resulting in the unflatteringly named ‘Croc-walk.’ It is particularly noticeable when attempted by children.

However, reminiscent of cultists, Crocs fans will defend their shoes to the bitter end, never giving in to reason and never offering an explanation that can be backed up with supporting arguments. It’s as if these people do not know how to defend Crocs and cannot put into words why they are so enthusiastic about them. None of these people have anyone nearby telling them to change into respectable shoes; everyone around them is usually wearing Crocs, too. It starts with one member of a community and infiltrates the closets of neighbours, friends and children. Soon, everyone is wearing the shoes that only months ago, they all were mocking. It's quiet, it's subtle, and it sneaks up without warning, but soon entire regions become infected. The sane find themselves suddenly in the minority, standing up to such a monumental threat to good taste. They are brave, they are righteous, and they are not alone.

Click here to visit the IHATECROCS store.

Keep up the good fight.

IMMOVABLE OBJECT VS. UNSTOPPABLE FORCE: ROCK PAPER SCISSORS EDITION

2010-07-25T12:11:00.004-03:00

Hello, I would just like to share with you the latest video we've put up at Junior Pigeon Dot Com. Laura and I (Vincenzo) have discovered that we are evenly matched in our Rock Paper Scissors prowess. Neither can beat the other. This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object:

branching out - i hate fashion

2010-07-06T14:24:00.004-03:00

This is the new 'oversized ringer see thru t-shirt' by American Apparel. It unfortunately doesn't come with the moustache; you must supply your own. I do believe this shirt requires a moustache for the proper accessorizing. Observe how the brown of the moustache and the brown of the shirt complement each other. I find this image emotionally moving.

The cost is $26.00. The shirt is backordered. It is an incredibly popular item. If only the Snuggy/Slanket people thought to make their products 'see thru.'

A perfect companion to your yellow or brown Crocs.

Junior Pigeon Dot Com

2010-06-20T21:25:00.003-03:00

I get quite a few emails from people who ask me why I'd spend "so much time" on a website that is negative. The truth is, I don't spend very much time on this website. But back when I started IHATECROCS, it was definitely needed. For my own sanity.

I'm sure I've told the tale before, but the origin of IHATECROCS is as follows: I was in high school. I had lived a Croc-free existence for my entire life. Suddenly, into the room walks someone wearing Crocs. My friend Matt pointed out to me the ridiculousness of the shoe. But, they were only being worn by that one weird guy in the class, so I thought nothing of it. We made fun of the shoes because they were so bizarre and ugly. Some time passed.

More people started wearing them. It was very strange. Like a virus or an outbreak of zombies. It was spreading. People in my group of friends started wearing them. And then... one day... Matt got a pair. Matt, the guy who had been making fun of Crocs with me. The guy who pointed them out to me! He was wearing a pair of black Crocs. I didn't understand. I had to know there were other sane people in the world. I started up IHATECROCS and that's how you come to be looking at these words.

All of this is just a roundabout way of letting you know that I have another site and it's not about hating things. It's called Junior Pigeon Dot Com and my girlfriend and I started it as an outlet for our various projects and hijinx. So, check it out! We're going to do cool things!

The MacKenzie / Ravina Memorial Toaster from Junior Pigeon on Vimeo.

This post has been brought to you by a kindly sponsor

2010-05-11T00:06:00.006-03:00

Today's post is brought to you by the good people at BuyItRightHere.co.uk -- where comfort meets fashion, apparently. But we'll get back to that in a bit!

In the meantime, we have everyone's favourite thing: HATEMAIL! Now with personal attacks!

This is from our good friend Jason Patrick:

Sorry, I just can't comprehend your blog or your personal fetish regarding Crocs. I'm happy to see their economic recovery and expansion succeed, since the global economy needs all the help it can get....but do you even have any clue at all regarding your complaints? Are you even remotely aware of the fact that the company has hundreds of different styles of shoes, and all but the basic model don't look anything like the particular model you appear to detest? The company makes very good-looking shoes for many people, including some more stylish women's shoes in particular; and employs a few thousand people globally - don't you think there are better things in this world to hate? I'm just curious what particular mental defect causes someone to spend this much energy attacking what other people choose to wear - exactly why is this SO offensive and upsetting for you? I'm sure you have plenty of mommy issues (or daddy issues) or whatever else, are you really going to spend your free time getting upset about other people's footwear? Good luck with the journalism career though, I certainly hope future employers don't chance upon your poorly written and even-more-poorly researched 'blog' during your job search.

Dear Jason:

1. I find it odd that you are unable to comprehend this blog. It's a fairly simple concept. It is called 'I Hate Crocs' and it is for people who hate Crocs. Simple!

2. Oh, I see. You don't understand what we mean by 'Crocs.' That's fair enough. You're correct, that company does have many types of shoes. To specify, this website is against their ugly model. The luridly coloured Swiss cheese clog-footwear.

3. Further, I am unsure which part of this website you find 'poorly researched.' Near as I can tell, there's no real research involved. Jason, if you are interested in my journalistic work, which involves research and interviews, you can go to Vincenzo Ravina Dot Com.

4. Finally, just a nitpicky thing: you put the word 'blog' in quotes, as though questioning the legitimacy of this website's claim to be a blog. I find this odd. That's all.

We thank Jason truly, for taking the time to write.

Next, we have an email from Fergus Travers:

I seriously think you have a problem. I too think crocs are ugly as shit but I wear them indoors and around my land but I don't go as far as making a fucking website and selling shirts saying "they are to your eyes like second hand smoke is to your lungs". At least think of something better than that shit. You want to retire early... the group of people who created crocs can retire or probably have retired and are living in amazing houses and driving sweet cars, you are a very sad person and I do feel sorry for you and your friend who made this lump of shit of a site, you're obviously both rejected and turn towards hating crocs and selling fucked up t-shirts for money... I'm sorry but there is something wrong with you.

Dear Fergus Travers,

Awesome name!

Love,

Vincenzo

In any case, as a special treat, each of our hatemailers today (Both Fergus and Jason) will be getting $30 credits at BuyItRightHere.co.uk. Yes, they will get $30 off whatever they purchase on the website of our kindly sponsors.

BUT I know what you're saying. You're saying, 'Vincenzo, why do the hatemailers get rewarded with $30 credits at the awesome website that is sponsoring this post? We actually like your site and don't send you terrible hatemail. How dare you, Vincenzo? How dare you?'

Well, we've anticipated this reaction. We've got a $30 credit for everyone. Up to 100 of you, anyway. Just type in the following code when you order: 515IHATE

See? Easy. Also, you're probably wondering what that site sells. They sell Ugg Boots. And as far as I know, they are the only site on the internet that sells Ugg Boots.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'Vincenzo, are you ENDORSING Ugg Boots?'

And to that, I would respond, 'No.'

But this is what Naomi at BuyItRightHere.co.uk had to say: "Fashion in my mind brings so much more to life if it can be therapeutic and healthy. Often comfort and fashion clash and we sacrifice our sanity to fit into the size 6 dress and live with the blisters from new heels."

And here is a list of things that Ugg Boots can probably do for you:

Keep your feet dry
Keep your feet wet (if you fill the boots with water before putting them on)
Kill a Cornish game hen (if you throw the boot at the Cornish game hen)
MUCH much more.

Now, I know that some of you have been having trouble with your Cornish game hens. We here at IHATECROCS are here to help. That coupon code again is 515IHATE.

Act now. You have two weeks. And yes, that is a threat.

Click here.

The preceding has been our first attempt at paid advertising. How'd we do?

Let us know at ihatecrocs@gmail.com

IHATECROCS: in the Globe and Mail

2010-03-12T15:09:00.004-04:00

Hi guys.

Just a quick update to let you know IHATECROCS is in the Globe today. Read it if you want.

Here's the part of the article that mentions us:

While most people seem content to create low-maintenance Facebook groups and pages for the objects of their revulsion, that wasn’t enough for Halifax student Vincenzo Ravina.
When he first noticed Crocs on a classmate’s feet, he didn’t like them, but didn’t think much beyond that. As the shoes became more popular, however, his passing distaste blossomed into something stronger.
He registered the domain ihatecrocs.com as a test, he says. “I was just kind of looking for validation in me thinking that I’m the sane one.”
It didn’t take long before traffic to the site exploded. He had created a popular forum for trashing the shoes, and sold more than 1,000 “I Hate Crocs” T-shirts.
Crocs have since declined in popularity and so, in turn, has Mr. Ravina’s passionate opposition to them. But he still remembers what fuelled the site at the peak of its popularity.
“With disliking things, people get more worked up than when they do like things,” he says. “It’s more antagonistic. People feel more encouraged to kind of fight for their opinion.”

I am not a quote-machine. I am more used to being on the question-asking side of interviews rather than the question answering side. SEE: Vincenzo Ravina Dot Com.

I Hate Other Things, Too

2009-09-29T23:47:00.011-03:00

I'm in my fourth year of my Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) program. I've been very busy working on my Honours Project. Come May 2010, I will graduate. I have big plans for after graduation.

1. I will be part of an expedition to capture penguins and make them my friends. I believe that this will help me with my job search, as I will be able to provide niche coverage of penguin affairs.

2. Find a job.

It's going to be pretty exciting. I had toyed briefly with the idea of retiring straight out of university, but I've since taken a look at my finances and noted that I have massive debt. Four years of university worth of debt. But once I pay THAT off, I'm definitely retiring.

OK, I'm going to dip my hand into the old mail sack and try to pull out some amusing hatemail, because that is what passes for content on this site.

Hey, I found one. It's from "PR."

Look, you seriously need to get a life if your idea of living is to create an entire site to spread hatred about a pair of shoes you don't like, but I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know. Fact is, Crocs aren't stupid. You are. They're an extremely clever design, and functionally, nothing even comes close to how good they are. Your only problem with them appears to be you don't like the way they look, and you're a fashion lemming. All that says is how shallow and immature you are. It says nothing about what's wrong with Crocs, but everything about what's wrong with you and others who hate Crocs just because of the way they look. You probably hate your mother just because she's fat. But you're certainly not smart enough to have created such a shoe 'cos if you were, you'd have been doing something more worthwhile in life.

Have a nice day. Asswipe!

The only comment I have in response to this email is that lemmings don't actually jump off cliffs en masse. That's a myth! But, did you know: in 1958, Disney was making a nature documentary and the team wanted footage of lemming suicide, so they just started herding them off the cliff themselves? True facts.

Moving on, we have another email. It's from Jeff Dunn. What a champion. Here's his email:

Whoever is is burning the Crocs I would assume is either in charge of this ridiculous website or a major supporter. Did you run to the mall and purchase the crocs that you hate so much and support the one company that is making the product that you despise. That would be hilarious. It would also make you hypocrites. I truly hate the pants that are so baggy that it looks like most of our youth did a big shit in their pants. It also looks very retarded and then to go with the pants these skinny little punks where shirts for a man who is 350-400 pounds. I am not about to set up a website claiming I want them off the face of the earth. There is probably one already. I will admit however that Crocs are not very pleasing to the eye, I thought they where stupid too until I tried on my brother's. I found them to be very comfortable. Now I use them as slippers at home. I wouldn't throw on a pair of jeans and head out the door with my Crocs on it looks lame. From want I see on this website is just another money racket. If you hate Crocs check out the store and buy my merch. If you really are serious about how much you hate this product, lets see more walk and less talk. Get yourself some explosives head to china (which is most likely where they are made) and blow that fucker up!! (the factory of course) That would really impress me. You can post the pics of that explosion on your website. Then you can shut this bad boy down. I guess everyone needs a hobby, mine is sitting in my living room with my Crocs on reading the comic books I collect.

Laters

Jeff Dunn

Jeff, you could not be more wrong about me. Anyway, if you're reading this and you hate Crocs, check out the IHATECROCS store. You can buy some sweet t-shirts. And the shoes destroyed in the videos are knockoffs that we purchased for about five dollars.

Oh, my. I just came across a series of three emails from someone named Kirkham Stewart. The first email is nearly 2000 words. I haven't actually read the whole thing, obviously. But, I've skimmed it and I will attempt to give you the gist of it. It starts out talking about religion and then turns into what might be anti-semitic hate speech (I can't really tell) and then bizarrely turns into an email addressed to "roger Cohen in the new york times" and then it is addressed to Jewish people and then he addresses whoever crashed his website.

The second email from this Kirkham reads:

i just sent you an email about your issue with crocs. i challenge you to publish it immediately. for all your little world to see. and did you know about croc's philanthropy before you began to bugger them? what on earth have you got against them? do you Really care so much about what other people are wearing? do you own a shoe company? are you just anti-capitalist? do you hate philanthropists? or is it just a certain kind of philanthropist? when's the last time you gave seventy-thousand poor people something to wear, asshole? why don't you put your money where your BIG FAT MOUTH IS?

And then the third email reads:

Kate Leth i just visited her link too. and what a great contribution SHE's making to society! i suggest she learn to speak english if she insists upon sharing her little world of making up faces with the rest of the world. i wonder if anyone really cares. i pity them. maybe SHE TOO can find something better to do than to bring down great philanthropy and apply warpaint to these people's faces. and would you please explain what this madness is all about? and who fuckin' cares?

Kate Leth is, of course, the person who started this website with me. I don't really understand his criticisms. Anyhow, clearly our friend Kirkham has a few issues and we wish him the very best with all of that.

Finally, I have gotten two bizarre emails requesting link exchanges. One from a website that sells tungsten wedding rings, and another from a site that has something to do with ceiling fans. The reason why I found this bizarre was because... well... why would we link to tungsten wedding rings or ceiling fans? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess. And this time, it PAID OFF, guys. Here are your dang links: Tungsten wedding rings. Ceiling fans.

I hope that means I get a free tungsten ring.

Here are some other things I hate:

- The covers for YA novels.
- Kids today.
- People who talk during, or in any way distract from, a movie.
- Dan Brown.
- The following words and phrases: Silly, keener, guilty pleasure, alrighty, joshing, "fustrated", naughty, funky, snow bunny, wimpy, shared a chuckle.

Oh, ALSO, you can follow me on Twitter. @SavourTheSea. And if you're interested in content produced by me that has even less to do with Crocs than the content on this site does, check out Vincenzo Ravina Dot Com.

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

Neat

2009-07-23T23:44:00.000-03:00

IHATECROCS on Fox News.

Mission accomplished?

2009-07-17T10:53:00.003-03:00

Thanks to everyone who send us a link to article pertaining to the terrible news re: Crocs. If you haven't read it, HERE is a link.

Apparently we were also mentioned on Fox News, which is neat. If anyone has a link to that, I'd appreciate it.

In any case, this won't be a long post because I'm currently in Italy and the only internet access I have is at the library.

Thanks for your emails and good work, everyone. This victory is a bit bittersweet, though. The whole US economy had to tank to bring it about. Poor, poor US economy. And the job loss, of course. It is a shame.

optimism

2009-01-15T22:11:00.007-04:00

OK, OK. You're right. It has been too long. I've been doing schoolwork and junk. You know how that is. I'm in my third year of my journalism degree and my 20th year of life. It is a busy time.

Anyway, here is a selection of wonderful mail we've been receiving.

The following is from Coby Klar:

fuck u u fuckin blowjob. i from Korea and i wear crocs. crocs cool!

Klar makes some excellent points. I'll admit that I was almost persuaded by his or her argument.

The following is a supportive email from Holly:

So here is my whole thing. The thing I seem to be reading the most on your website from people who love Crocs is how you have no life to be making this website. Well what kind of life do people who love Crocs have if they have time to

1. Search or find this site in the first place
2. Read what you have to say about hating crocs and last but not least
3. Send you an email complaining about you and the website...

Hmmmmm. Good questions right. Now just as a personal note. I used to be a hard core Croc hater, till one day my mother in law bought me a pair for work. I work in retail and I am constantly on my feet, these actually turned out to be very soothing to them. But I am certainly not going to bash you for having an opinion!

Mary had the following to report:

I'm seeing an increasing number of blog entries from Crocs lovers which describe horrific foot rashes gotten from them, identical to the ones I've been getting: My Crocs are kept clean and I have always worn them exclusively with socks, yet each time I wear any of my many pair of Crocs, my feet break out in clusters of extremely itchy sub-derma blisters which erupt within 2-3 days. These blisters tend to cluster at points where the shoe rubber is in direct contact with each stockinged foot. I also get nearly the same allergic reaction, only somewhat more extreme, precisely where the metal Crocs logo rivet rests against my instep, inside the shoe. If I don't wear the Crocs, I don't get this reaction; in fact, I get no foot problems whatsoever. If I wear the Crocs for so much as a couple hours, the blister rash comes back, always in identical form, and takes a week to get rid of.

Have you heard any other similar reports?

We haven't heard anything other than what you've brought to the table. How about the rest of you guys?

The following is an email from Jaime:

I think you are crazy for posting this website I love Crocs. I understand that you have a great hate for Crocs but you don't need to share that with the world. PS I am 10 years old and seem to be more mature than you, but who's to judge how intelligent a 10 year old is compared to a 30-40 year old like you.

Sincerely,
A Very Smart Ten Year Old

To which we responded as follows:

Neither of us is 30-40. And I fail to see how you can glom how mature we are from the website. Especially considering how incorrect you are about our ages.

But, thank you, Jaime, for writing. We receive little feedback from ten-year-olds. Who do you like for the next American president?

-Vincenzo A. Ravina

That email was sent BEFORE the American election. We now know that Obama won. And on behalf of the Canada-based IHATECROCS, I thank you, voting Americans, for voting in someone who seems intelligent. We'll have to wait and see if he actually does good things for your country, but I am optimistic. Good luck.

And yes, before you ask, it did make me feel like a big man to write a sarcastic email to a ten-year-old. We pick up self-esteem where we can, people.

Anyhow, we're getting down to brass tacks on the whole Spreadshirt sale thing. Tomorrow's the last day. Here be coupon codes:

USD$: NEW29
CAD$: CADNEW29

Keep up the good fight.

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

2009

2009-01-06T01:44:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone and happy new year.

This is just a quick message to let you all know that Spreadshirt (the company that makes our IHATECROCS t-shirts) is putting on a 20.09% sale between now and January 16th. So, if you were planning on buying a t-shirt, don't forget to use the below coupon codes to get some money off your order! The codes only work on orders over twenty dollars, however.

Coupon codes:
USD$: NEW29
CAD$: CADNEW29

Keep up the good fight.

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

Hatemail from Newsweek readers

2008-08-26T12:38:00.006-03:00

The best part of getting mail is getting hatemail. It is fun! I will tell you, I am most commonly accused of not having a life, which is always funny to me. I appreciate hatemail, because I am not a very angry person and I imagine that it must take a lot of work to get all worked up and angry at someone you have never met and probably never will meet. It's all very curious. I appreciate the effort of these hatemailers.

Here is a strange one from Michelle. She's civil and appears to agree with us.

Wow,

I can’t believe there are people that have the time to “talk about shoes” –
But, since I happened across your site – thought I would speak my mind.

Crocs are just another example of society’s acceptance of the ridiculous.
With the public at large revering cartoon characters, bad behavior, and just
plain lowering the bar for expectations, is it a wonder that Crocs would be the
epitome of fashion?

Please – don’t waste the internet on anymore stupidity.

Alex, on the other hand, is not coy about it:

how can you be so stupid? i don't like them either , but waste your fucking time doing that.
you must be very miserable, go find a pussy and do something for yourself.
don't be ridiculous, who are you to judge people , if you are the one in the video ,you need to look at yourself in the mirror and do something about you own look, ASS HOLE!

That is just harsh. But it gets harsher! Here is one from "T Gackt":

Nice blog you FUCKIN STUPID ASS DIPSHIT!!!
GET A FUCKIN LIFE!!!
My entire family wheres Crocs. They fuckin rock!
YOU FUCKIN SUCK SHIT!!! WHO GIVES A SHIT ASS FUCK ABOUT FASHION YOU FUCK!!!
FUCK YOUR FUCKIN BLOG!!! FUCK FUCKIN YOU!!!

The poor guy seems to be having problems with his shift key. Maybe it sticks. Here is a perplexing one from Jason:

You are a bunch of idiots to come up with such a stupid website. Jealousy is an ugly emotion. I love the fact that the company is smart enough to advertise on your website , You are nothing more than advertising for Crocs. This is more than a fad and if you would be smart enough to try a pair on you would also understand why smart people were Crocs. Were do people like you have time for creating such stupid websites.

1. I can't imagine what we are meant to be jealous of. Croc-wearers? No. Crocs, the company? Not particularly. I mean, if offered the chance to make millions just by encouraging people to wear stupid shoes, I'd probably go for it, actually. You heard it here first, people. If offered millions, I am willing to sell out.

2. Crocs doesn't advertise here. There's some kind of algorithm that picks up words on the site and picks stuff to advertise. Naturally, it picks Crocs.

3. I have tried on a pair. I found them to be strange and cumbersome. You're right, though. I've never tried to actually become a pair of Crocs. I really never knew that smart people were Crocs. I'm glad they got a chance to regain their human forms, anyway.

4. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LEARN THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHERE, WERE AND WEAR. I hate errors like that more than I hate Crocs.

Moving on... An email from Travis!

What is wrong with you people? Have you ever been out of the country? Clogs have been around for some time now, so, how do you deem it necessary to think that we need to abolish something that other people like? I don’t like them either, but its not my business to dictate who wears clogs, nor is it yours. That is why we live in a free country and get to decide on what ugly thing we wear next.

A lot of people who write in to our site don't believe in freedom of speech, just the freedom of being able to wear ugly shoes. Also, he asks whether I have been out of the country. My answer is 'Yes, a great many times.' To Italy, to Austria, to Switzerland, to London, England, to New York City, to Tunisia, to Peru, to Boston... And I've been to many of the provinces in my own country (Canada). I fail to see the relevance of the question.

Sarah really tears into us:

Hey. You guys should just shut up!! Just because you don't like crocs, doesn't mean that everyone else should go along with you!!. And it is definately not important enough to make a stupid website about it or have a FACEBOOK group!!! I like Crocs. They are comfortable and you can pass them off as tennis shoes in gym class because of the strap!! You are just idiots!! You don't have to like crocs. You are entitled to your own opinions, but you don't have to be so public and pushy about it. I have to go buy some more Crocs for school. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

See you never!!

I'm sorry that I was so pushy as to force you to visit my website, click on the email link and have you email us. My bad, as the kids say.

Michael has this to say:

U stupid noobs r so stuped! Crocs are the best shoes ever!U suck for making this website.

And if you thought that was the tersest hatemail, check out this one from Coby:

go fuck yourself,, fuck you..

Anyway, thanks to all of you who sent hatemail! It was all very amusing.

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

Email from Newsweek reader Stacie, former Crocs employee

2008-08-09T13:03:00.003-03:00

In the second installment of our recurring feature called 'Emails from Newsweek readers', I bring you an email from Stacie:

Call me slow, but I just stumbled onto your website today as a link from the Newsweek article. Anyhoo, I love it! Long story short, I worked at Crocs 2+ years ago and it was hands down the worst job I have ever had.

My two previous jobs I had been at for 5 and 5 1/2 years, I lasted a mere 7 weeks at Crocs. I started there as the Art Director which was a new position in the company. Needless to say, it was a cluster from day one. The environment was complete chaos. Everyone running around trying to capitalize on opportunities and doing things half-assed. My supervisor would dump a ton of work on me, then leave early to go running. My average day lasted anywhere from 14 - 17 hours including working over the weekends to meet impossible deadlines.

The ethics of the company were questionable as well. The saying in the office was "you worked at Crocs because you were either related to someone or sleeping with someone" and that was true. The CEO's wife and daughter worked there and the daughter was the completely clueless footwear product manager. The web guy's wife was related to one of the owners. One of the vice-presidents was dating a girl in the Rx division...so on and so forth. It was literally enough to make you sick.

I was there about 3 weeks when I realized I had made a terrible error in judgement and desparately needed to get out. Luckily, another company that I had interviewed with offered me a position which was my saving grace. Just showing up to work at Crocs made me physically ill. I'm am glad that I got out and yes, for more reasons than the fact they are ugly-ass shoes, I too HATE Crocs!!!

-Stacie

Good times! Thanks for writing!

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

Emails from Newsweek readers

2008-08-07T12:26:00.003-03:00

I'm announcing a new regular feature we're going to have here on IHATECROCSDOTCOM. It is called, 'Emails from Newsweek readers'. We got a lot of emails from them, and some of them are interesting and fit for our site. As long time readers know, I had my Gmail account hooked up to a ticker tape machine in the drawing room in the east wing of the manor ages ago. In the past few days, I have seen the drawing room fill with ticker tape from floor to ceiling. I've had to install a new ticker tape machine, though I installed it outside, near the croquet field.

Anyway, I thinking I'll be posting one new great email every few days until we run out of amusing emails.

To start us off, here's a great one from Daniel:

Greetings,

I'm an English teacher in South Korea. Generally speaking, I have a pleasant disposition with my students. Some of them I even like.

One day, I found myself filled with an odd, irrational disgust directed at a particular student, a kind and well-meaning girl named Suhjin. I'd always enjoyed her, she tries hard and participates, but I couldn't shake the feeling that, for some reason, I now despised her.

The feeling persisted. It wasn't an odor. Nor was it dehydration or a few nights of bad sleep. No matter how I felt, seeing her suddenly filled me with an intense revulsion.

A week or so of this, and suddenly I began to feel the same way about another student. And then one of our other teachers on staff. At this point, I saw the connection.

I'm not what you would call fashion conscious, and Korea is usually behind the times with everything Western, so I'd never heard of Crocs. All I knew was that I suddenly realized what was going on. It was the teacher, a short fellow named Henry. "What. The hell. Are those?" I asked, pointing to his feet.

He was wearing what I would later discover were called "Designer Crocs," dark-toned, slimmer at the heel, and padded with a faux-suede fur-lining. The rest of his outfit? Business slacks, dress shirt, and tie. "What are you wearing?" I asked. My disgust with him reached profound levels.

"They're Crocs!" he said proudly.

I physically recoiled. "My God," I thought. "He's lost his mind." When Suhjin came to class, I realized that she was sporting a neon orange pair. I suddenly saw them everywhere.

Let me be clear: I INSTINCTIVELY, and SUBCONSCIOUSLY hated these things before I was even aware they existed. I perceived them the way you might perceive, say, the sound of a humming refrigerator. Or the feel of your own tongue in your mouth. Something you know is there without realizing you know. I perceived them, and my body reacted with innate horror and hatred. I thought, for the longest time, that maybe something was wrong with me. Maybe I was just wired wrong. You know, how some people, for some reason, simply can't stand the taste of pizza or think prune juice is tastier than Pepsi.

And then, saints be praised, I found your website. Thank you for letting me know that there are others like me out there. The only thing that bums me out now is the knowledge that, since Seoul is usually a year or two behind the states with things like fashion and movies, long after you all enjoy the demise of the Crocs, I'll still have to put up with them.

Fight the good fight.

--Daniel

Thanks, Daniel!

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

i got a lot of email today

2008-08-01T16:04:00.008-03:00

I think we're getting new readers because we've been mentioned in Newsweek! LINK. That is what I have been told by means of email, anyway. Thank you all for coming down to the site. We hate Crocs here. Why? Because they are to your eyes what secondhand smoke is to your lungs.

Anyway, I will copy and paste stuff from old entries. This kills two birds, because 1. I don't have the time to write a whole new entry because I am killing myself trying to finish an article by deadline for the local weekly newspaper, and 2. This will be helpful to our new readers. Welcome, all of you. Those who agree with us and also those who disagree.

I am Vincenzo Ravina. I run the website. My personal website is located at VincenzoRavina.com. Kate Leth started the website with me. Her personal site is located here: KateLeth.com.

Oh, we also sell t-shirts and pins and things. I'll get that out of the way right here.

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

And we have burned Crocs as well as cut them with scissors. Video footage is here:

Kate and I wrote an article for Emirates Today ages ago on the subject of Crocs. Click on the image to make it readable.

crocs story from zach and wisdom teeth

2008-06-20T17:16:00.002-03:00

Hi everyone.

I got my wisdom teeth out this morning. It was interesting! I spent most of my morning pretty drugged up. Want to see the text messages I sent Kate right after the surgery? Yes you do!

"Done. I was axxajjk tge whole tgme."

"Iwedfeel weaqp. Gt 's so"

"My mouth is edul ofblood. I feddl good. I takej to everybeey."

I have absolutely no idea what the second text message means. Not a single clue. Anyway, I'm no longer drugged out of my mind, because they didn't give me a prescription for the good stuff, just ibuprofen. Lame. Although it does make the spaces where teeth used to be less painful. For this, I am thankful.

Zach sent in a crocs story for us! Check it out:

So, I am heading south on New Ballas Road, trying to make a left onto Ladue. I am first in a left-turning red light. It is 2:30pm on a Tuesday, and I am waiting for this light to turn green, so I can get to the office. I hate waiting. All Israelis...Boom...do. What the heck was that? I hear a noise, a bang, and am quite shaken. Could someone just hit me from behind? Shit... I go out of the car, and a guy walks out of his car. He is in his mid-forties, greyish hair, sloppy dress, total mess in his 2-door silver Mercedes. Several large cups of Lion's Den (or whatever that fast food chain is called) are sitting in the passenger seat on a pile of lots and lots of paper. I wonder what is in these cups...

The guy apologizes for hitting me. Apparently, this is a new car, and he says that he is not used to the breaks. The Green crocs he is so proudly wearing, i think to myself, do not press the pedal well. I truly feel bad for him. I ask him to pull aside into a driveway on Ladue so we can talk this out. We get there and I look down to check my bumper. Despite the flashes from his lime-green crocs I see that my bumper is cracked. He, again, apologizes. He tells me his name and asks me that we settle it without involving the insurance company.

"You have kids?" he asks.
"No, I do not.".
"My four-year-old took my wallet. You know, they do these things when they are that age."

I recall all the wallets I took from my parents when I was four. Those were some days. My brother used to do that when he was a kid, too.

"Anyway, I do not have my license or my insurance information. I am willing to pay you $100 for the damages right now."
"$100 is not going to cover this damage." I immediately reply.

This is definitely one of those what-to-do moments. My students are familiar with those, in a different context of course.

"You know, the dealer is just up the street. Let's go there and get an estimate for the damage." I reply.
"Well, I have a meeting at 3pm. I'd hate to miss it." he says.
"You will have to miss it, man, I have some meetings myself, and it does not look i will make them either."

So, he agrees, shakes my hand, telling me how great I am. How the heck did he figure it out, I ponder.

Off we go. I take a quick glance at his license plate, get into my car, and write it down. Two minutes later, we are approaching the dealership. He is behind me, and I am watching so that he will not bump into me again. I signal to make a left into the dealership. And....off he goes, turning to the right lane, and getting away!!!! Wow, now i gotta think fast. I immediately think that you do not mess with the Zohan.

So, I switch to the right lane, carefully, making sure I do not hit the other cars. It is quite heavy traffic and I see him turning right onto Olive. I am after him, dialing 911 on my cell phone. Luckily, I have a blue-tooth enabled phone. Gosh, I love gadgets. My Garmin GPS is not yet working. It is sitting in its box in the trunk, unopened, as I have just received it the day before, but did not have time to activate yet.

The runaway man presses his lime-green-croced foot onto the pedal and drives away. "I am in a chase, yay!", I think. But immediately have to calm myself and think what to do next.

"Creve Coeur Poilce Department. If you are in a car chase after a green- croced-man, do not press anything, just speak"
"Hi, I am on Olive, driving east, and I am chasing a car that hit me earlier and is now running away. His license plate is YYY-111" (Unfortunately, I cannot reveal this information)"
"Ok, stay calm, I am on the case. What is the cross-street?"
"Craig Road"
"OK, stay behind..."
"He is turning right on Graeser. I am behind him"
"Ok. it looks like he is going home. Park your car and wait for the officers to get there"

I do as I am told. In the meantime, I lose him. Two minutes later, the officers get there. 3 cars. One of them stays with me. The other two, I assume, go to look for the green-croced man. I tell my officer the entire story, and about 10 minutes later he says:
"They have the guy. They want you to join me in my car and do a drive-by so that you could identify the person."

Wow, me in a police car. That is a first.

"Sure, I will join you."

I have to sit in the back, because a police volunteer is sitting in the front. "Buckle up."
"Oh, right.."
So, I am in a police car now, heading south.

"So, what were some distinctive features of the person?" The officer asks.
"He was white, mid-forties, grey hair, little belly, and he had neon-green crocs on."

The car is turning right. It is a well-to-do subdivision, full of trees. And there is an aurora in the horizon. A green shade lights up the sky. Two police cars are parked in the distance. It seems that the green shade is emanating from the ground, the driveway. Oh, right. It is the green crocs, and there is that man in them!!! He is trying to walk straight to the orders of the officer who is standing next to him. He is very shaking, poor guy. I did not know that the material from this gross plastic can quickly impact one's mental demeanor.

"That's him" I tell the officer.
"How do you know?"
"Well, can't you see? the green Aurora...the little smiling alligator, that annoying two-position buckle that you can place either to the front of your foot or pressed against the back of it? That's him!!!"

"We have a positive ID." The officer says in the walkie-talkie to the other officer.
"The green crocs?" The other officer replies.
"Oh, yeah, they did another one in".

There you have it.

back from new york

2008-05-28T00:05:00.003-03:00

OK, so I've been back from New York for AWHILE. I just haven't updated. So, New York was awesome and my visit to the Mad Magazine offices were a dream come true, since I've been wanting to visit those offices since I was a kid. I've been reading Mad Magazine since my mother would let me. And to be shown around by Dick DeBartolo, a living legend, was just amazing. But you probably don't care about that! If you do, there are pictures of my trip at my personal journal, HERE.

Anyway, what is new in the world of Crocs? Well, we've got this story that Coral emailed us. Check it out.

(Email removed by request)

Thanks for writing, Coral.

The European Championship is going on! GO ITALY.

out of office autoreply

2008-05-05T05:54:00.002-03:00

I'm off to New York, everybody. Heading off to the airport in a couple hours. Hold down the fort, OK? Don't burn the carpet.

people who enjoy crocs are perplexing

2008-04-30T22:43:00.006-03:00

Hey guys,

I'm heading to New York in five days, which should be fun. In addition to the usual touristy things, I'm going to visit the Mad Magazine offices. I'm pretty pleased about that. Anyway, I recently received a strange email. The perplexing email is from a man named Michael Peacock, which is a pretty sweet name.

I absolutely love what you are doing for Crocs wearers everywhere. I hate following trends and, although I don't go out of my way to be "counterculture", when I like something it is disappointing to find that everyone else is doing it. I must, therefore, extend my deepest gratitude to you for discouraging the masses who cannot think for themselves from wearing my favorite shoes. I happen to love them; the uglier the better. They're more comfortable than Birkenstocks and a third the price. What do they look good with? Absolutely nothing, so I never have to worry about whether my shoes go with my outfit. The charms thing? It's just so lame I love it. And now I don't have to worry about anyone thinking I'm gay, because if I was I would never be seen wearing something so atrocious.

So keep up the good work! And if you have lots of extra time on your hands (and clearly you do) maybe you should start a website about how lame mutton-chop sideburns are. That used to be my thing, and now everyone else is doing it.

You're welcome, Michael Peacock. Keep up the good work. Very perplexing.

Anyway, that's all for now.

See you in New York.

***

You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

drip drip drop little april showers

2008-04-17T17:07:00.006-03:00

From The Financial Post:

Crocs aren't hip anymore - news that may make you ecstatic or depressed, depending on your fashion sense - and workers at a Quebec City factory are paying the price.

The namesake shoe of Colorado-based Crocs Inc. isn't bringing in the same rush of people as in their peak in 2004, forcing the company to ship its Canadian manufacturing south to Mexico after less than six years in operation, putting more than 600 employees out of work.

It only took two years for the company to go from the largest footwear IPO in history to back-of-the-closet obscurity.

"Crocs bites the dust," Robert Samuels, an analyst at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., said in a note.

Crocs CEO Ron Snyder blames the slowdown in demand on poor Croc-wearing weather and a dismal retail climate, but the more obvious answer, as with any of-the-moment trend, is that people are shunning the shoes many feel are just plain ugly.

"The brand's popularity is in sharp decline, and it is tough to argue otherwise," Mr. Samuels wrote.

It begins. It took a bit longer than we'd expected, but it is happening, inevitably. The full story is HERE.

The seasons are changing here in good ole Halifax. It has been quite warm the past few days, which I rather enjoy. I went to the mall today and saw an old lady wearing one sneaker and one yellow Croc. It struck me as strange. Very unusual. Typically, people wear shoes that match. Perhaps it is this summer's new trend?

In any case, the company that produces our t-shirts, Spreadshirt is running a promotion for springtime! For this weekend only, if you live in the States and you're ordering something from our store, you can get free shipping by entering the coupon code 'SPRINGFREE' when you're checking out. If you're Canadian (like me), you can enter the coupon code 'CADSPRINGFREE' and get five dollars off your shipping. Not a bad deal, especially if you were planning on ordering something anyway. You can get to the shop by clicking HERE.

april brings the crocs out

2008-04-07T16:24:00.002-03:00

I forgot to mention in the last post, but we were mentioned on Norwegian TV during some kind of Crocs debate. Thanks to everyone that wrote in to let us know!

I realize I haven't been posting that much lately, but I have a couple reasons for this! Firstly, here in Canada, it has just stopped being winter. Thankfully, Crocs tend to hibernate during the winter. Except for the especially stupid Crocs, but what can you do, right? My second reason for posting only about once a month is that second year journalism is insane. The amount of work in Radio Broadcasting and Reporting Techniques is quite huge, let me tell you. And of course, I have a great many other classes.

Anyway, look! This is the second post I've written for April! And they're so close to each other! Incredible! This is because I am very close to being done school. I've just got two more days of classes and then a couple exams. And then I'm done! Joyous.

And it is my birthday on the 9th! Hooray.

Here's an email we got:

I thought you guys might appreciate this video.

http://www.ourstage.com/video/channel/66-cmf/RZSAPPULOVNR-crocs-pit-of-despair

If you guys enjoy it, I would appreciate it if you could post the link on your site!

Thanks,

Kevin Franklin

The video is pretty funny. Alright, have a good one guys.

vincenzo's shoes

2008-04-02T15:39:00.004-03:00

Hi everyone!

As promised, I bring to you pictures of my shoes. Now, the first couple are old shoes and, naturally, they are a bit beat up. I don't wear them that much anymore because... well, they're beat up. The last two, I wear more often. They're newer and less beat up. There you have it.

Alright. There you go. My shoes. What do you think? Am I the person who ought to be ashamed? How dare I make fun of people in Crocs when I'm wearing these monstrosities? Is that the consensus? I don't know! This is the first time I've given you ammo. Well, there you go. Have fun.

Also, if you've ever wondered what's inside my wallet, BOY HAVE I GOT A WEBSITE FOR YOU. Yes, www.WalletMuseum.com is the home of the Wallet Museum, which is usually located in my back pocket and contains an abundance of flat or mostly flat objects. When my wallet gets too thick, the objects get moved to a box in my closet. As such, I've been collecting flat or mostly flat objects for several years now. I decided to begin the rather daunting task of converting the various pieces in the museum over to a digital format. CLICK HERE to check it out.

a thoughtful letter

2008-03-01T20:03:00.002-04:00

We received the following very thoughtful email from Sarah L:

Hi Crocs haters,

Although we have theological differences regarding footwear, I have to say that I enjoyed watching your videos on Facebook today. I really would love it if you tried microwaving a pair of Crocs - their website strongly urges you not to unless you want to miniaturize your shoes.
Your site and its logo are pretty clever. Keep up the good work.

Can I share my own love/hate crocs story with you? In the fast few years of college, I have gone from hating to adoring to tolerating these bizarre shoes. First, I thought they were fugly. Then, my friend Maura bought 3 pairs and I caved in to buy some for my closed-toe-shoe requiring summer job. $55 dollars and a year later, I have narrowed the times and places where these shoes are acceptable.

Pro Crocs points
First and foremost, the circulation-stimulating nubby things on the sole helped me though my recovery from a circulatory disorder. Thanks to the bumpy footbed, my legs didn't get nearly as tired and cramped and I could actually walk or stand for long periods of time.
The waterproof/quick drying nature of the shoes is great during the warm spring deluges that attack my area of Tidewater Virginia. More stable than flip-flops, less soggy than sneakers.
On little kids, these are easy to slip on and off. Also you can remove sandbox debris easily. I worked at a preschool this summer, and boy was I glad half my kids didn't need shoelaces tied every 2 seconds.
The Crocs company is gradually seeing the light about the hideousness of their shoe, and offering more conventional looking options.
In a neutral color worn with long pants, Crocs are less garish. (Mine are a tasteful beige. I also own the silver ballet flats)
Anti Crocs points
Scrapbooking housewives embrace the most hideous hot pink variation of the shoe. Do I want to be associated with that demographic? Will my shoes make me give bad first impressions?
You do walk funny in them.
The sizing is odd - they run large because the shoes stretch out as you break them in.
You get pebbles, mulch, and dirt inside your shoes constantly.
The Crocs site advises you to "treat your feet to a new pair" once the tread is worn out. This a nice way of saying that once you have worn them to death, you will lose any traction once the shoes get wet. Some friends and I have almost wiped out on tile floors thanks to wet, treadless crocs.
And now for the weirdest Crocs story ever - they may be "anti-microbial" but they also absorb odors. After filling up my parent's car with gas like the good daughter I am, I discovered that some gasoline residue on the pavement had seeped into the bottom of my shoes. The Crocs reeked of Exxon-Mobil so badly my mom banished them from the house. Several hosings, scrubbings, and nights on the front porch didn't help. Finally, after a day or so of running around campus, the smell was gone. But now I have to watch where I step at the gas station.
As time passes and I get ready to head out into the "real world", I think my Crocs will have to be relegated to a role as house slippers and rain shoes. Although those new sandals look kindof cute..... If Crocs want to keep my business I suggest they sell nubby innersoles I can put in my normal-looking shoes.

Keep on hatin'
Sarah L

Interesting stuff! Anyway, what's happening in your life, everyone? Me, I'm fine. Journalism school is getting tougher, you know how it is. I recently read a Sue Grafton novel and it only sucked slightly less than I thought it would. Anyway, I think what I'll update with next is a series of photos of the shoes that I wear. Then you can insult my taste and it will be grand.

How about that TV show Lost? I love that show.

Croc Doc

2008-02-02T23:14:00.000-04:00

Trevor Kjorlien, from Edmonton (fellow Canadian!), sent us this awesome video project he made on the subject of Crocs. He used a couple clips from out own videos of Crocs destruction. Check it out!

To the store:

I hate Crocs in the new year

2007-12-30T17:02:00.000-04:00

Today, the local paper known as the Daily News published a year-end round up of various things to do with lifestyle and other such things. Included were Crocs. And us. I don't normally read the Daily News, but I was having breakfast with my friend Jasmine and she picked up the paper because a picture of Crocs were on the cover and she wanted to make fun of me. She opened it up and said, "You're in here. You know you're in here, right?" She showed me the little blurb and I was like, "Hm. Neither Kate nor I go to Dalhousie. Whatever."

happy merry christmas

2007-12-21T15:09:00.000-04:00

Happy Merry Christmas or other wintertime holiday, everyone. Hope it is perfectly devoid of Crocs.

Kate Leth and I have personal websites, did you know? Kate has recently revamped hers.

Kate Leth Dot Com

Vincenzo Ravina Dot Com

just pictures

2007-12-12T00:28:00.000-04:00

How about just pictures for a change? Most of these pictures have already been posted, but never all in one post! Click on them to make them bigger and, you know, legible.

down to brass tacks: crocs getting skunked

2007-12-08T03:15:00.000-04:00

The above is Michelle, a true heroine, wearing one of our bags. It looks pretty cool! I have never actually seen one of our products in real life. 'Cause, I don't know, if I ordered one for myself, it would be like a band wearing their own t-shirt, you know? It wouldn't be cool at all. But it looks totally awesome! That bag and other stuff is available at the shop, which you can get to by clicking HERE.

Anyway, down to brass tacks: I've been really busy with school (exams) and we've been renovating the manor because we decided that the library wasn't big enough and as a result, I haven't posted much recently. We've knocked down a few walls and expanded into the gardens, so it should work out just fine. We might have to nix the helipad, is all.

Posting also occurs less frequently this time of year because Crocs don't come out much in the wintertime. And hopefully this winter will be the one that finally rids us of them permanently.

Here are an email that recently came off the ticker tape machine:

I started a website after I received the formal in writing go ahead to start Logo Crocs Dot Com. I thought I would get a ton of hits and sell imprinted crocs. Well I just received a fancy attorney letter that they have changed their policy. I hate crocs also.
Penny Fleming

Strange how websites that might actually make Crocs some money are being shut down by Crocs while we have been going strong for quite a while now. This is Little Rubber Shoes Dot Com all over again.

An email from Mary Bradshaw:

to, stupid croc hater

you are sooooooooo stupid for not liking crocs. me and one friend want to informaion about your STOOPID evil videos!!!!!!

from,croc lover

ps, GET A LIFE!!!!

Rarely have so few words made less sense.

Steve Tuttle recently send us this picture:

crocs stock plummets

2007-11-14T12:11:00.000-04:00

It has come to our attention that Crocs stock has taken a significant decline. This is good news. Apparently this is because Maddox holds sway. HERE is the article he wrote about how much Crocs suck. Enjoy. That was a link at the beginning of that sentence, by the way. The all-caps word 'HERE'. That was a link.

An email from puddle-37108:

You website states, "According to THIS clip from the Daily Show, "If [someone is] wearing Crocs, they are soliciting incredibly depraved gay sex." The Daily Show is America's finest news source. You take it up with them."

Well, aside from having the opinion that the Daily Show and news source should never be used in the same sentence, I went to their website and searched their archives - nope, not one mention of Crocs anywhere. Unless you can substantiate your supposed quote you should remove it from your site.

My reply:

Dear puddle,

Thanks for writing.

Your email states, "I went to their website and searched their archives - nope, not one mention of Crocs anywhere." Boy, what a zinger.

Here's a thought: did you ever think about watching the video we LINKED? You know, by clicking on the all-caps word "this"? Wasn't subtle enough for you? Do you know how to use the Internet, at all? You figured out how to search the archive but not how to watch the clip? If you don't know how to use your computer, you should have it removed from your home.

I'll go over it slowly now. Remember when it said, "According to THIS clip from the Daily Show" on our website? That's your cue to read till the end of the sentence and then remember there was a link at the beginning of it. So then you clip on the link, right? But when you get to the Daily Show website, you don't search the archive! No. You WATCH THE VIDEO WE LINKED YOU TO. Give it a shot. Let me know if you need more help. I know how confusing the internet is.

Thanks for the email. Please never write us again.

-Vincenzo

I was annoyed that day.

Crocs linked with Larry Craig scandal, plus Amber Roberson strikes back

2007-10-25T23:37:00.000-03:00

According to THIS clip from the Daily Show, "If [someone is] wearing Crocs, they are soliciting incredibly depraved gay sex." The Daily Show is America's finest news source. You take it up with them.

And here is a photograph of a hero wearing an IHATECROCS shirt.

Moving on.

The first thing I do after waking up in the morning is I check my email. This is just what I do. I check my email constantly. Compulsively. And I recently got an iPod Touch, which makes all that even easier. Now, I can check my email while waiting for the bus, presuming there is unprotected WiFi somewhere nearby and usually, there is. Anyway, it is awesome.

Today, we got an email from Amber Roberson. Her subject line was "yup, it's me again" and so I searched her name my email archive to figure out who exactly she was and why I was expected to remember her. Apparently she sent us the following messages a while back:

T1: Amber Roberson, tree-hugger

I think you gives are pretty dumb. You are NEVER going to, in a MILLION years, stop the Crocs craze. Sure there ugly. THEY LOOK LIKE CLOWN SHOES!!! But they are comfortable. And they can withstand a good hosedown. AND they are fungus-resistant. And anyone dumb enough to wear them on an escalator will pay the price. THIS SITE IS A WASTE OF TIME, EFFORT, AND INTERNET SPACE!!!! you should be ashamed, sapping people for their money. FOR YOURSELVE!!!!!!Go donate to Greenpeace. In the meantime, I think I will go hug a tree. You probably won't post this, but if you do, I just know you will make fun of me. BAH HUMBUG ON YOU!!!!

T1: Amber Roberson, registered Tree-hugger

I hear you hate Crocs,huh?
WELL, I HATE YOU WITH A PASSION THAT BURNS THROUGH MY SOUL, WISHING TO KILL YOU ALL!!!! you freaks. You will never stop Crocs. Sure, they can be dangerous. Sure they're ugly. But apparantly 6MILLION+ people don't care. they are comfortable. They are washable. They are fungus resistant. Well, I AM YOU!!! RESISTANT. YOU ARE FIGHTING A LOST CAUSE!!!!
YOU MONEY hogging bimbos!!! GO DONATE TO A REAL CAUSE!!! while you do that, i will go hug a tree.

T1: Amber R. , registered tree-hugger and promoter of Greenpeace

you guys are insane. Just who do you think you are? You hurt me. I am now tired of looking at the address. I have decided to block you guys of my computer list. Oh, yep, it's me again!!!! Amber R.

After figuring out who she was, I got excited for her next crazy nonsensical rant. The following is what she sent us after a silence that lasted months.

Oh, yes- it's me. The grammar-freak. The tree-hugger. Back for more. WHY can you useless people use the time the dear Lord has given you? WHY can't you go volunteer at an animal shelter? NO. Instead, you devote your lives to scamming people, making fun of FOOTWEAR. Sure, they are ugly. But wouldn't you be better off doing something that ISN'T completely worthless? You should be ASHAMED. But no. You go on, smiling. Throwing them into blenders. Cutting them. Yawn. Goodness. YOU MAKE ME SICK. Thank you for BOTHERING to read this. This is the last time I will waste my precious time on earth trying to convince TOTAL NUT JOBS to stop. My tirade is over. Oh, and P.S.- even if you tried to contact me, this is my JUNK EMAIL. Go do the world a favor and see a psychiatrist. And, it might surprise you to learn my age, which is why I won't tell you. Wonder Forevermore!

UN-Cordially Yours,
Amber Roberson, Tree-hugger

She's such a wacky character. Her atrocious English has gotten better. I hope she didn't strain herself too much. She'll be sorely missed. Assuming she doesn't forget to take her meds again and emails us again with another crazy tirade in a couple months. Also, in case you wondered, we rarely respond to emails, positive or otherwise. The volume is such that it would exceeds the amount of time I'm willing to set aside for this website. An email has to be pretty substantive to warrant response. Amber has yet to be replied to.

I also find it curious that she thinks my interest will be piqued by her saying she won't tell me her age. Why in God's name would I care? I scarcely care to know the ages of my closest friends. Why would I want to know the age of some crazy stranger who I hope never to meet in real life because I doubt I could stand the overwhelming stench of cat urine I imagine she is steeped in? We wish Amber the best in her future pursuits.

baltimore sun article

2007-10-14T11:45:00.000-03:00

The following are the bits of the Baltimore Sun article in which IHATECROCS is written about. We took up quite a bit more space in the article than I had anticipated. Also, she misspelled Kate's last name. But, I am quite pleased that this is the first time that a journalist has mentioned Matt's name. I've been telling that anecdote for every single interview and finally Matt's name got in.

A young woman waits demurely in a stark room. Before her on a table sit scissors and one half of a pair of Crocs.

For the next two minutes and 35 seconds, as a jaunty Cole Porter score plays, she takes scissors to shoe, shredding the rubbery yellow thing into sad little slivers. The slivers she pulverizes in a blender.

A smile never leaves her face.

The dismemberment, enjoyed by more then 60,000 people on YouTube, comes compliments of the folks behind Ihatecrocs.com, an Internet site dedicated to the elimination of Crocs and those who think that their excuses for wearing them are viable.

Though that mission is failing miserably -- sales of the pliable, holey, cloggish Crocs are as relentless as their fans evangelistic -- Crocs haters remain convinced of the shoe's in-your-face obnoxiousness. They want to cut them to pieces, burn them and feed them to woodchippers.

Woodchippers?

***

"They repulse me," says Vincenzo Ravina, who founded Ihatecrocs.com with his friend Kate Leth, the happy snipper. "They are to your eyes what secondhand smoke is to your lungs."

Cancerous?

Ravina's Web site tops 1,000 hits a day.

His products -- including the $17 T-shirt with the slogan "Friends Don't Let Friends Wear Crocs" -- have found devotees internationally.

***

Like many haters, ihatecrocs.com founder Vincenzo's aversion grew from feelings of helplessness -- he felt as if he had lost control.

One day "the weird kid" in class showed up with Crocs. Vincenzo snickered disparagingly with his friend, Matt. Two weeks later, Matt got a pair.

"And his girlfriend. And all my other friends," the Canadian college sophomore says. "I'm looking around and going, 'What's changed?'"

***

All Vincenzo knows for sure is that he'd love to stick a few pairs in a woodchipper -- if only it weren't so expensive to rent one.

Instead he's chewing over the idea of laying a Croc or two on the tracks before a speeding train.

"Like Snidely Whiplash," he says with undeniable enthusiasm.

In the meantime, he promises not to slip, like so many others, over to the Croc side. Even if they are anti-bacterial. Even if they do come in lavender. Even if they are as comfortable as people say.

"The comfort level required to overlook their extreme ugliness would have to be amazing," he says. "They would have to be like walking on a cloud."

Full article is HERE.

Also, we got an email in reference to the article that incensed me a bit. Here is the email and my subsequent response:

I just read the interview in the Baltimore Sun and then went to your website.

Wow... you guys are HARD-CORE!! If you guys focused your efforts on world hunger, everyone on the planet would have three square meals a day! Too bad you're obsessed with plastic shoes.

Maybe you should learn a trade instead of trying to call yourself a journalist. If all you can focus on is plastic shoes, then you'll be penniless soon.

Who's next - Nike, Adidas, Puma, Birkenstocks??

Best,
Scott in MD

Dear Scott in MD,

Precisely what do you mean by "trying to call [myself] a journalist"? I mean, I go to a school of journalism, I'm in the Honours program, I've written quite a few articles and I've been published a few times. I take notes constantly and I interview people. Now look up the word "journalism" and then the word "journalist".

Also, I can focus on more than plastic shoes. It just so happens that you visited the site of mine that is all to do with plastic shoes. Perhaps if you were to explore my personal website, you'd get a better idea of my varied focuses. As to your comment that I'll be penniless soon as a result of said focus on plastic shoes, I highly doubt it, as most of my income comes from, you know, working.

As a journalist, I absolutely hate errors of fact. I can't stand when people don't do their research properly. It is so easy. We live in an information age. Use Google. Please write back with more valid arguments or at least better researched ones and then we'll talk. And I do hope that you write back, honestly.

-Vincenzo

I'll keep you posted on his response.

Friends don't let friends wear Crocs

2007-10-09T19:51:00.000-03:00

I just spent a good half hour on the telephone with a reporter from the Baltimore Sun. That was the best interview I've ever given. I'm far more comfortable with these things, now. It saddens me that even though the reporter and I had a good conversation and even talked about journalism and writing (the focus of my university studies) for a while, the only quote that will make it into the article probably will be, "Crocs are to your eyes what second-hand smoke is to your lungs." It's a good quote, don't get me wrong. It is why I make a point of saying it in each interview. As a journalist, I know that that quote is the best most succinct way of giving our position in a clever way. It's just that for such a long interview to boiled down so much, it feels like a lot of material was wasted. But this is the way of journalism. It is the iceberg effect. The article is the part of the iceberg protruding above the water. The larger part of the iceberg represents all the work and research and time. She also asked me what other things I hate and I was able to go on at length about Dan Brown. He's such a bad writer.

Anyway. I'm rambling. This isn't my personal website. My personal website is way over here.

Check it out, guys! More pictures:

The pictures in this post are from the lovely Jen of Swindon, England! She says:

I love my t-shirt!!! Wore it out for a meal and drinks and so many people agreed with me!

Thank you so much for providing us with such wonderful pieces of art! :oD And such a great price too.

If you'd like to own your very own t-shirt, you can find them available for purchase in the SHOP.

Also, we recently got an email from an Italian lawyer who claims that Crocs infringe on a patent held by his clients:

I'm an Italian lawyer that represent an Italian company, First Company srl, who produces moulds for footwear.

I write the present one to give you the news I've started a legal action against Crocs Inc. for an illicit imitation of patent.

My client has became owner of the following patent (you can verify on the web):

US 6,439,536 B1 - date of patent: Aug. 27, 2002;

EP 1025970 A2 - date of patent: Aug. 9, 2000.

The above patents concern a new mould for the production of footwears - with side openings - in plastic material called EVA.

The footwears sold with mark Crocs, in particulary the clog type Cayman, are manufactured through the use of an identical mould like the one who has been patented by Gatti & Piccolo srl, and now of ownership of my client.

Well, how about that. I wonder if their claims have any legal basis. Moving on...

Actually that's it. Oh, our Facebook group has hit 800 members. Until next time, keep Croc-blocking.

kate turns 19

2007-09-26T23:24:00.001-03:00

Yes, Kate turns 19 today. You guys know Kate. She's the co-founder of this website and posted a whole lot while I was away in Italy/Tunisia/England for five weeks. She's the one cutting up the yellow Croc in our Cuttin' Crocs video? Remember? She's in the burning Crocs video with me? Guys? She's got a tattoo of a cupcake on the back of her neck?

Do you remember her yet? No? Whatever. Anyway, she's 19 today. Awesome, right?

Here is a random assortment of emails:

Ive worked for the company for about a year now and i could not agree with you more. I have to wear them day in and day out and i've never hated anything more than these shoes. I hate having to lie to people and say that I like them. Cause they're just hideous foul beast who shouldn't have existed in the first place. Plus people who buy them are retarded in all sense of the word.
-Jason

UR MEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You know what? Doing what you do really stinks. You can stop your cruddy website now. If you don't, do something about it.. Also, You make me the saddest person alive. Crocs RULE! : P
Sicerely,
Spencer Gwakslenshbeild

you people are a freaking joke! This is the dumbest thing to do with ones life that I've ever heard of. What the heck would make people, seemingly intelligent people, create a website such as this "I hate Crocs". Get a freaking life and pursue some worthwhile effort with the time the Lord has given you.

Surely you are putting the world on!!
-Wade

Well, there's not much one can say to the latter two people who emailed us other than "Chill out, guys. It's Kate's birthday."

you can stop emailing us about this article now

2007-09-17T21:29:00.000-03:00

Also, just because we've gotten about ten emails about this in the last half hour or so, there's an article about the dangers of Crocs on escalators on the front page of Yahoo. So, check it out! Thanks to everyone who emailed. You know who you are. And you know that you're beautiful.

proliferation

2007-09-16T22:17:00.000-03:00

Hi gang.

I'll be updating with less frequency because school has started back up again and, as you may already know, I am a journalism student by day. Yes, I Hate Crocs Dot Com takes up only a sliver of my time. And since winter is coming soon, the Crocs will thankfully be going away. Apologies to those in Australia and other such places, for whom summer is coming.

I was recently at a party trying to get a cork out of a wine bottle without a corkscrew. Anyway, eventually I forced the cork into the bottle and fountain of red wine spurted forth and a couple drops landed on my white shirt. I soaked those parts with water and then put some dish detergent on the spots and then washed away the detergent with water. Which reminds me of this email we got:

Hi I just want to share a story about Crocs that I sent to the company but keeps being returned from there web site. This is something that happened to me this summer.

Hi I have a comment about your croc footwear. I received a pair of crocs for father’s day this year I wear them around the yard while doing chores .And I wear them when I go to the camp. On July 21/07 while at the camp I was wearing my crocs and it was raining all day and I noticed that they were very slippery on the wet deck, a slip here and there. Later that evening I was coming down a grass covered hill and it was still raining. The next thing I was on the ground holding a broken ankle. I am starting to believe that crocs are a dangerous product. I finally got my cast off two weeks ago and still not feeling great. Why would you sell a product that has no traction and that is very slippery when wet? These were purchased at a marine supply store, all these people buying them there to wear on their boats where it is wet most of the time. This seemed to be a great product but I think I may have to do a little more research on this kind of problem with crocs, and decide if I will release my story to all. I would be nervous to wear them again. Your input to this problem would be appreciated. Thanks Kevin

So I can not get a response to this I want to share with every one. I HATE CROCS
Thanks kevin

And there you have it.

Cruggs are horrifying and I liken them to how we are breeding superbugs on account of the proliferation of antibacterial products.

I hate Crocs so much, I bought the t-shirt

2007-09-10T12:07:00.000-03:00

Today, we got the following email in our box from our good, good friend Parker. I quite enjoyed reading it and taking a look at the pictures attached! Check it out!

Dear Vincenzo and Kate...

First of all, your shirts are fantastic; my first visit to your site resulted in my purchasing shirts for my sister (who lives in Ann Arbor, MI), my boyfriend, and myself. Washington DC seems to be the unofficial Crocs capital of the world and something needs to be done.

On Friday, I celebrated my birthday with a group of friends and Spencer (the boyfriend) wore his anti-Crocs shirt with pride. Granted, he was denied admission to one establishment (despite his shirt's awesomeness, the bouncer insisted on a collar), but he was showered with compliments all night. I also happen to think he looks damn fine wearing it. I've attached a few photos…Keep up the outstanding work!

Happy birthday, Parker!

Also, a reporter recently asked me to tell them the story of this site's origins and about our t-shirts and why we hate Crocs. I sent them the following:

I first saw Crocs in high school. My friend, Matt, and I saw this other guy wearing them and we thought they were ridiculous. We proceeded to make fun of them amongst ourselves, jokingly saying that the holes were aerodynamic and for speed. We didn't think too much of them because there was only one person in the class wearing them and he was the token weird guy. Anyway, a month or so later, lots of people are wearing them. And then Matt, the very same Matt who made fun of Crocs with me, had his very own pair. The traitor.

Then, I was reading my friend Kate's LiveJournal. Kate was the only friend I had who was as vehemently opposed to Crocs as I was. Everyone else owned them. She wrote an rant about Crocs on her journal and I thought, "I should buy the domain I Hate Crocs Dot Com." So, I did. I told Kate about my purchase and she said, "Dibs on lay-out!" And thus, our beautiful partnership was born.

My t-shirt design was the first in the shop. It was just a yellow Croc with a 'NO' sign over top of it, like on 'No Smoking' signs. Kate designed the ones with scissors, because she is the graphic design genius. She's really quite amazing in her prowess, I think. We made those and the site really just took off on its own. We were getting a lot of hits fairly early on. We started getting noticed by the press and blogs and such pretty soon after. At this point, we've been mentioned in Radar Magazine, Maclean's Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Slate, Salon, CBC Radio, The Christian Science Monitor and numerous other newspapers, radio stations, magazines and blogs. Kate and I wrote an article for a newspaper, Emirates Today on the subject.

I hate Crocs because they're ugly. They're chunky, luridly coloured and perforated. They are to your eyes what second-hand smoke is to your lungs.

articles of clothing

2007-09-03T12:24:00.000-03:00

Maybe you've heard that Crocs is expanding into clothing, apparently using "Crocslite" in that particular arena, as well. This is, of course, crazy. Will people begin wearing Swiss cheese shirts, now? Will Crocs make luridly coloured bathrobes, which people will immediately begin to wear in public? Let's hope not.

As you know, we at IHATECROCS have had a line of apparel since early in this site's inception. We've recently added a few new shirts.

They come in red or dark blue for ladies and red or black for gentlemen. I hope you will enjoy them.

Reminder: the first person to take a photograph of themselves or someone else in one of our t-shirts gets something awesome mailed to them. We know someone out there has both our t-shirts and a camera at their disposal! There are probably hundreds of you! Take a picture, click click, and send it to us!

You can visit the shop HERE.

legal stuff and mid-life crises

2007-08-31T12:46:00.000-03:00

On the matter of Crocs, Inc. being a bunch of douches, we recently received an email from "Vincent Vin", who had this to say:

I saw your post at LittleRubberShoes.com and your mention that you feared that Crocs might try to force IHateCrocs.com offline. But in truth, CrocFans.com and your web site are both protected free speech and fair journalistic use of their tradename in the respective domain names. There are a zillion web sites that use Apple and Mac in the domain name and it's not an infringement. Free speech is protected whenever a web site such as MacWorld.com, Apple-Expo.com or MicrosoftReallySucks.com (hypothetical) says whatever they want, so long as it is about facts and opinions and such things as fan comments or negative comments. You CAN legally use a tradename in your domain name so long as you are not pretending to be Crocs or whoever. There is a lot of precedent in matters like this and it was naive of CrocFans.com to cave in out of needless fear. The worst they can get is an injunction to take the domain and that's only if the judge is a total ass. If they go around suing for actual cash damages, they would probably lose and they would cultivate their own bad PR. I personally was interested in Crocs shoes as a vegetarian after seeing a NY Times article but now I would be inclined to decline such a product because the company has no sense of ethics much less a sense of what is legal.

My email to Crocks:
"You have a lot of nerve to be sending cease and desist letters in order to STEAL legitimate fair usage web domain CrocFans.com. And you have no legal ground to stand on except that you have successfully bluffed. I'm going to give you as much bad blog as I can, boycott you forever and use my vegetarian web sites to promote boycott.
- Take your Boss Tweed attitude and go to hell!"

I, for one, hope that Vincent Vin is right. Don't let them take you out, Croc Fans Dot Com! Resist!

Here's an email from Cathy that sounds ridiculous with the possibility of being completed fabricated and unfortunate if not:

Just saw your site and had to add my experience.

Approaching his 60th birthday my husband spied a pair of (urgh) crocs in a local shop in Brighton. Making a beeline for a horrible pair in vomit green he tried them on with a gleeful look like a little boy in his first wellies. How do they look he asked me. Behind my pasted on smile I was screaming silently ARE YOU MAD!!. But against my better judgement I just nodded and they were bought. Three days later he returned from a secret forage for MORE crocs – this time a violent shade of blue and I knew he was lost.

One month later and after 32 years of marriage he declared he needed to go to Thailand to `find himself`. That was 9 months ago and for all I know his horrible revolting crocs are frightening children all over Thailand.

I wonder – are these crocs impregnated with some chemical that activates the latent stupid berk gene in men? All thoughts appreciated.

Let the war continue…

Terrible!

As an aside, I have once again changed Vincenzo Ravina Dot Com. I decided to go old school internet this time, sparse with text and blue links.

Also: the first person to send in a photograph of themselves wearing one of our t-shirts will get something awesome mailed to them. Email your pictures to ihatecrocs@gmail.com.

Also: we were featured on the Unofficial Podcast. I guess this guys makes podcasts for blogs, pretending to be the writer. I'm not sure why he gave us the accent he did, as we are from Atlantic Canada, but whatever.

Our friends over at Croc Fans Dot Com have hit upon legal trouble

2007-08-26T03:19:00.000-03:00

Hello, everyone.

You may already know that we here at I Hate Crocs Dot Com like to poke fun at our friends over at Croc Fans Dot Com from time to time. Well, they've hit upon legal trouble and are now located at Little Rubber Shoes Dot Com. Why the domain name change? Because our enemies at Crocs, Inc. have sent them a cease-and-desist and demanded that they transfer the domain name over to them. Yes, they shut down one of their biggest supporters. That's how stupid Crocs, Inc. is.

This, of course, disgusts me. Should I be happy that the antithesis of this site has been taken down a notch? Some of you might think so, but I'm not. I don't much like it. No sir. We don't take kindly to bullying. Anyway, if you liked to visit Croc Fans Dot Com, change your bookmarks now. We wish our friends at Little Rubber Shoes Dot Com lots of luck.

We haven't received a letter from Crocs, Inc. but it could happen any day now.

The post from Little Rubber Shoes Dot Com explaining all of this in greater detail is as follows:

On July 19, 2007, Crocs, Inc. sent a cease and desist letter to our web hosting company which demanded that that they immediately provide the contact information for the registrant of CrocFans.com (me) or immediately transfer the registration of CrocFans.com to Crocs, Inc. If these demands were not agreed to by July 26, 2007, Crocs, Inc. may “pursue all available remedies” including “injunctive relief”.

This letter caused our hosting company BlueHost.com to temporarily suspend our account without any notice to us on July 25th. After speaking with BlueHost.com I was able to get the site back up and live after about 15 hours of being down. At that time I learned of the letter sent to BlueHost.com regarding the CrocFans.com domain and Crocs “demanding” of the ownership transfer of the domain.

I thought why would Crocs, Inc. have a problem with a fan site devoted to their products, brand, and the people who love their products? My initial thought was that this has to be some sort of mistake. After reading the cease and desist letter I noticed that the letter stated that CrocFans.com was being used to “operate a website to sell shoes that are very similar to those sold by Crocs, Inc.”

Well, as many of you know, we have never sold any products on CrocFans.com so I thought that I would pro-actively contact the Crocs, Inc. attorney who sent the letter to my hosting company to clarify this fact.

After leaving a voice mail with the attorney and an initial email helping clarify what the site was and that it did not sell competing products to Crocs the attorney acknowledged that CrocFans.com does not sell Crocs products or products similar to those sold by Crocs.

BUT… went on to say that the use of the Crocs trademark in the domain (CrocFans.com) “could be confusing to consumers as to whether the site is sponsored by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Crocs, Inc.” Although they did not demand that we discontinue the content of CrocFans.com and that I was free to continue running the website under a different domain name, they still demanded that I transfer the domain name CrocFans.com over to Crocs, Inc.

Being a diplomatic person, I thought I would show my good faith with the Crocs organization and offered to transfer the domain CrocFans.com over to Crocs, Inc. after what I felt was enough time to do the necessary work to transfer a well established website domain to a brand new domain. After spending 2 years in growing the CrocFans.com website into what it is today with the tens of thousands of visitors to the site every month I offered to transfer the domain by January 1, 2008.

Anyone who has had to move an established website over to a different domain knows this is not something that you can do overnight without loosing all of your traffic. There are many steps necessary to ensure all of the work and effort already put into the site can be saved and transferred over to the new domain. I felt 5 months was the least amount of time it would take to do this transfer given the 2 years it took to build the site.

After sending my offer via email to the Crocs attorney, I felt certain Crocs, Inc. would be understanding and accepting of my offer. CrocFans.com has been one of (if not the biggest) online supporter of their shoes and brand for the last 2 years. We’ve held Crocs contests for people to show their love for Crocs (I paid for the winner’s prize with my own money) and been interviewed supporting Crocs in a New York Times article. I thought this was a fair compromise.

I guess was wrong…

The Crocs, Inc. attorney informed me that Crocs, Inc. was willing to give me 30 days (until September 5, 2007) to complete the transfer of ownership of CrocFans.com to Crocs, Inc.

I have responded by respectfully declining their offer to transfer CrocFans.com over to Crocs, Inc. by September 5, 2007.

Needless to say the whole situation has left a bad taste in my mouth especially since I have spent a significant amount of time creating a site that supports, promotes, and helps further the Crocs brand to a worldly audience. Although I still like the shoes, I am not as impressed with the company and their management of this situation.

So, where does that leave us today?

I have started moving the website over to the new domain LittleRubberShoes.com. You may have noticed this at the top. Before I get a bunch of emails stating that Crocs are not made of rubber, I know, but that was the best I could come up with. If you have better ideas for the new domain please add them in the comments below.

I am working toward fully transferring the site from CrocFans.com to LittleRubberShoes.com by January 1, 2008. It is my hope to have the same amount of traffic to the site by the first of the year as what we were seeing before we made this change.

Undoubtedly, our traffic will take a short-term dip because of this move, but over time we should be back to where we were before. I’ve already seen a dip today where we previously were on the first page of search results on Google for “Crocs”, now I don’t see the site in the first 3 pages.

We need your help. Please update your bookmarks, link to our new site, subscribe to our newsletter, subscribe to our RSS feed and tell your fellow CrocFans where we’ve moved.

We will be announcing a new contest shortly that will hopefully build some excitement around the new domain LittleRubberShoes.com. Stay tuned for more details on this, but expect to see a much bigger and better prize than just one free pair of Crocs like previous contest.

In closing, of this marathon post… it is my hope that companies will start learning how to leverage brand evangelists to their advantage. The companies that can harness the power of brand evangelists will not only build their brand but build it without additional marketing cost.

I read an article today that up until last year Zappos.com had 5 people in their marketing department. They are expecting to do a billion dollars in sales next year. They have focused on providing the best customer satisfaction and letting their customers do their marketing for them. Zappos gets brand evangelism.

The cheapest way to get a new customer is not by you talking about your products (traditional marketing). It is by finding ways to get other people talking about your products.

Brand evangelists have been around for a long time. Traditionally, they could only reach one person at a time. The internet gives your brand evangelists much more power and in some cases the ability to reach thousand if not millions of people. Companies need to work with these people who are your brand evangelists; they are your most valuable marketing resource.

I wonder if our friends over at IHateCrocs.com have received a letter?

palpable anger and ihatecrocs in the christian science monitor

2007-08-22T23:44:00.000-03:00

We're in the Christian Science Monitor. You can't tell from the article, but my interview with this reporter was the best I've done. Interviews aren't that easy, I'll have you know. But I'm getting better at them. Also, the reporter asked some good questions. Plus, it is always fun to make a reporter laugh. The parts that mention us:

And on ihatecrocs.com, Vincenzo Ravina and Kate Leth devote an entire website "to the elimination of Crocs and those who think their excuses for wearing them are viable."
Ask Mr. Ravina why he finds Crocs so objectionable, and then take a breath. "They are exceedingly ugly. They are chunky, luridly colored, perforated, and overall, an eyesore," he replies. "They are to your eyes what second-hand smoke is to your lungs."

Ravina, a college student from Halifax, Nova Scotia, scoffs at testaments to the comfort of Crocs. "My bathrobe is comfortable," he says. "But I don't wear it to the supermarket. You have to respect other people's aesthetic."

He and fellow blogger Ms. Leth have clearly struck a chord with their website, which they created a year ago on a whim and now gets at least 1,000 visitors a day. "I didn't expect it to take off the way it did," he says. They also do a brisk business selling T-shirts and buttons, with logos like "Friends don't let friends wear Crocs," and more simply, "I hate Crocs."
***

As long as their popularity persists, devoted Crocs haters say they'll continue with their venom, too. Ravina thinks the fad will soon fade – "look at the Macarena," he says.

HERE is the full article. It's worth a read.

And we've got an email from the lovely Danielle, who knows me in real true life and gives me a ride home from work sometimes:

Today I went to Cirque Du Soleil. Seeing as this was somewhat of a Cultured Event I took the time out of my day to wear some nice clothes, and try to look decent. I wore some nice shoes, they were not crocs. In the time that we were waiting in front of The Metro Center and when the show actually officially started, I saw no less than 10 pairs of Crocs on the feet of those attending the show. Now, I won't even begin to start in on those people who chose to dress as if they were going to soccer practice or had just woken up. What I want to focus on are the twin boys (about age 10 or so) who were wearing dress pants and dress shirts with BLACK CROCS! As well as the old woman who was wearing a nice skirt and blouse... with WHITE CROCS! The best part about the woman with the white Crocs were her jibbits. Those stupid little "decorations" that people stick into the holes of their Crocs in hopes that they will make them a little less hideous, when in fact, all they do is make them look uglier. These jibbits were the epitome of all jibbits, they were the creme du la creme of jibbit-dom! They were very large fake pearls surrounded by a ruffle of gold! So beautiful! They really made the outfit, I tell you... So, you have it here! Crocs have made it into the realm of "dress shoes" all you need is fancy jibbits!

These descriptions make me shudder like few things can. Crocs are ungodly, everyone. Jibbitz, too. Just stop. Please. Come join us and make the world a less ugly place. All of the arguments mentioned in the below post are secondary to the number one concern we have. They make me want to put my eyes out with brooches. Who got that reference?

I hate Crocs so much, I'll make a convincing argument against them.

2007-08-17T10:29:00.000-03:00

The I Hate Crocs Facebook group is home to much civil debate and discussion. I'm very pleased by the civil part, but also by the debate and discussion parts. One discussion topic 'Why are Crocs bad?' has a particularly well-argued bit of writing against Crocs. Here is part of Eudora Chua's post:

2) They are bad for the environment. The material they are made out of cannot be recycled or bio-degraded. Years from now when the fad wears off we will have landfills full of the things. Our legacy to the people of the future is going to include not only all the trash we are already producing but bright, neon-coloured, foam shoes.

3) They are hazardous. There have been over ten documented accidents with these shoes, on escalators especially. Children have lost toes to these things because the straps get caught in the sides of the escalator. A casual, practical, affordable sandal has caused kids to be injured, and these kids were under parental supervision, not running around as they pleased or playing on the escalator.

The articles I'm referring to were published in a respectable newspaper in my country, The Straits Times, not some tabloid that fabricates news. Of course the shoes are not the only factor and there are other shoes like sneakers that have laces and can get caught. But with laces there's an obvious hazard. Crocs are marketed as being super comfortable and safe, most people don't even see the strap as a hazard. Admittedly this isn't a huge point but it is something to be taken into consideration.

As a sidepoint, Crocs have been banned in some hospitals and schools, for safety reasons. When you're working around potentially bio-hazardous material, you don't really want holes in your shoes.

4) The entire Croc fad is materialism at one of its worst displays. I'm not trying to promote Armani, or Nike. They're really not that practical, especially for people who live in temperate countries, you will only wear these the most 6 out of 12 months. Come autumn and winter, your feet would freeze thanks to the fantastic holes which are so applauded. In fact, where I come from there are plenty of non-branded alternatives. We've had sandals that are comfortable and washable for years, just check out your nearest Wal-mart or K-mart or Sears or whatever store's nearest to you. Nice pairs of sandals don't need to cost even $40, if you don't care about the brand name. Crocs are a product created for which there was no real, urgent need. When taken into consideration along with the other points above, it's hard to see them in a positive light. So much of its appeal is simply the hype.

5) People use the excuse, 'they are so comfortable' to wear them to everything and anything'. If you protest that Crocs are not suitable for, let us say, places of worship, the office or events like weddings and funerals, they say they are making a statement. I have seen this too many times to discount it as unrelated, individual incidents. The correlation was the clogs.

People don't see that simply because they are available it's an excuse to wear them to everything. Even on orthopaedic grounds it's not really arguable--how much support can a pair of clogs that is made from from some resin material provide? For something that's so comfortable, it can actually cause flattened arches over a prolonged period of use due to the lack of adequate support. And people don't know this because the marketing campaign simply says they are comfortable and orthopaedically sound.

""I'll get people with strained arches because they've been running around in Crocs for five days," said Arnold Ravick, a doctor of podiatric medicine in Washington, D.C., and a spokesman for the American Podiatric Medical Association. "When it comes to shoes, people mistake comfort for support. Comfort is fool's gold—a soft gushy shoe that makes your arches collapse," he told me. "Crocs are popular because they're inexpensive and interchangeable. For people with certain problems, they can be a good shoe. Are they good for your foot, in general? No."" (www.slate.com/id/2170301)

Well-argued! I've been convinced. The full post is HERE.

'Crocs link to smugness and idiocy,' says the Daily Mash

2007-08-10T11:13:00.000-03:00

An article from the Daily Mash:

WEARING Crocs shoes will transform you from a normal adult into a horribly self-satisfied and “self-consciously whacky tosser”, leading doctors warned last night.

Donning the brightly coloured plastic footwear is likely to make middle class women believe their dress sense is a lot more interesting than it really is, the doctors added.

Their research suggests Crocs may also encourage such women to think they are “a bit kooky” and individual, when in reality they are just wearing stupid shoes aimed at kids, and copying all their friends.
Cherie Jackers, whose parents David and Enid are leading vegetarians and caravanners, said she loved her Crocs and had bought them for all the family.

She said: “When I was at school I was always considered to be a bit of a crazy one and I was forever having to tell my friends to not mind me because I was ‘a bit mad’.

“So you can imagine Crocs are just perfect for me, they show everyone I am not just a sweaty mum with bad hair, but a really interesting individual with interesting and individual taste, just like the millions of other interesting and individual mums who wear Crocs too.”

Mrs Jackers said the shoes were “fantabulous” because she could wear them with anything, including her favourite grey jogging trousers with the bobbles and the saggy bum.

She said: “It doesn’t matter if the colours clash, or if the Crocs look stupid and out of place. In fact that’s the point of them. It just proves I’m totally crazy.”

Chloe Jackers, 11, and her brother Sam, 10, said their mother was “an embarrassment” and that while Crocs were “all right for five year olds I suppose” they were planning to burn theirs and run away from home.

Dr Raj Peshwar, a behaviourial psychologist and expert on the middle classes who conducted the research project, said Mrs Jackers was “unbearably smug” and a “total fucker”. “I hope she dies, horribly,” he added.

On their site, the article is HERE.

IHATECROCS loses an intern

2007-08-08T23:01:00.001-03:00

Well, summer is going to be drawing to a close soon and with summer's end, we lose our intern, Dirk. Dirk has been this summer's IHATECROCS intern and has been getting us coffee and typing out all our posts as we dictate them to him. We were lucky to have an intern of such a high calibre and with such low self esteem. Anyway, as he will be returning to his home tomorrow, I've decided to allow him to write about his experiences these past few weeks.

Hello, Croc-blockers.

The weeks I interned at I Hate Crocs HQ were sweet. Vincenzo and Kate are real nice people, except for when it comes to Crocs. More than once, they said to go out into the expansive backyard and destroy Crocs in a bunch of weird ways. And everytime, Vincenzo said, "No, Dirk, don't bring the camera this time. I'm not legally allowed to have these chemicals."

Anyway, after that point in the letter, Dirk started to seriously ignore the non-disclosure agreements he signed and we can't have that kind of information out there. What occurs in the manor is not told to the public for a reason.

Good luck, Dirk. Keep the faith.

If you are interested in an unpaid internship at IHATECROCS HQ, please send a resume and cover letter to IHATECROCS@gmail.com. You must be in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in summer 2008, however.

And now, a letter from our good friend Nick:

Dear Vincenzo and Kate

There is a group of us that share the same feelings towards crocs. Here are some videos I have done that refer to crocs. www.pibtv.com/movies/CROCS.wmv

This next one refereces crocs at the end of the video. www.WILLTHISBEND.com

Hope you enjoy and keep up the fight to remove crocs from the streets and put them back in the garden where they belong.

Nick James

Correction, Nick. Crocs don't belong anywhere. Except perhaps Hell, where they came from.

And lastly, we have some somewhat boring hatemail:

Sorry but I hate your web site! Crocs are good for your feet, cool looking, water proof, and cool your feet of. You are mean, rude, and bad citizens .I hate your products.You disgust me, my friends and family!!!

We accept your apology.

DCfosheezy: Enemy of shift keys everywhere

2007-08-02T02:44:00.000-03:00

Fellow Croc-blockers,

It may interest you to know that not everyone agrees with you, me and Kate. There are those who, in fact, dislike our having made this website at all. This may come as a shock to you. From the very beginning, I hoped that someone, somewhere, might become so incensed about our having made this website that they would go out and buy IHateIHateCrocsDotCom. And then, I thought, we could have the owners of that site over for a diplomatic dinner party and we could laugh and laugh. Unfortunately, at time of writing, no one has purchased IHateIHateCrocsDotCom. But, a blogger called DCfosheezy has written all about how much he dislikes us hating Crocs at his blog IHateYouHatersDotBlogspotDotCom:

I HATE "I HATE CROCS.COM" THESE GOTH-ISH NOVA SCOTIANS IN BETWEEN THEIR WEBSITE AND YOUTUBE/FACEBOOK BLASPHEMY... SEEM TO JUST TRY TO LOWBLOW THIS COMPANY, HEY RETARDS, THE CROSLITE MATERIAL (WHICH IS NOT RUBBER; STOP CALLING IT RUBBER, IT AINT, AND ITS GOT NO LATEX) WAS ORIGINALLY CREATED AND PRODUCED IN CANADA. SO WHATEVER, IN THE END WE CAN BLAME ANY MISHAPS ON THE CANADIANS... THEY STARTED IT.
ESCALATOR ACCIDENTS ARE TRAGIC, BUT CROCS DO NOT INCREASE THIS RISK IN ANY WAY. IN FACT THEM NOT HAVING LONG LOOSE LACES MAKES THEM 10 TIMES FUCKING SAFER THAN THE SKATE SHOES I USUALLY WEAR IN THE MALL. ALSO, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO," HOLD THE HANDRAIL AND WATCH YOUR STEP." JUST TEACHING PEOPLE THAT WOULD ENSURE SAFETY. THESE INCIDENTS ARE MOST OFTEN DO TO REALLY PISS POOR SHITTY MAINTENANCE OF ESCALATORS AND WALKING SIDEWALKS. BLAME THE LAZY MECHANICS AND THE MALLS THAT DONT GIVE A DAMN TO PAY MONEY TO REGULAR MAINTAIN THEIR PROPERTY. ALSO, TAKE THE DAMN STAIRS OR ELEVATOR EVERY NOW AND THEN. IHATECROCS.COM IS JUST ANOTHER LAME WEBSITE STARTED BY A COUPLE OF "HOT TOPIC" SHOPPERS WHO RATHER WEAR KNEE-HIGH 20 BUCKLE BOOTS FOR THE PRICE OF A PAIR OF AIR JORDANS, THAN RATHER BE COOL AND OR COMFORTABLE. IF SHOPKEEPERS AND MINIMUM WAGE MALL SECURITY GUARDS WANT TO TRY TO WARN SHOPPERS AND POST SHIT SAYING HOW DANGEROUS CROCS ARE, YOU'RE DUMB.
CROCS MAKES MILLIONS AND WILL CONTINUE TO FOREVER AND EVER. NOT A FAD YOU FAGS. SO JUST POP YOUR CHEAP PRESCIPTION CANADIAN DRUGS AND SHUT UP ALREADY.

We were, in fact, aware that Crocslite was originally created and produced in Canada. And we are Canadian. I suppose DCfosheezy's argument is that Kate and I agree with everything that is created and produced in our fair country. I, personally, do not agree with maple syrup. I find it altogether too sugary and syrupy. Also, I really don't like that our DVD cases have all the text in both English and French. I think DVD covers are cluttered enough as it is without having to cram both languages on. They should have both options available. I think that would be better. And we should probably take the critic's comments off the cover, too. And I hate how sometimes books that have won award have a note saying 'Winner of the whatever award' in a circle that looks like a sticker, but is in fact printed right on the cover and cannot be peeled off. That just ruins a perfectly good book. I don't even remember what I was talking about anymore.

Oh yes, DCfosheezy. What a charming name, as well. I object to the 'goth-ish' comment, as neither Kate nor I are 'goth-ish'. I'm not exactly sure where this got started.

We don't tend to comment on the whole escalator debacle, though we occasionally post the emails we get about it simply because we get so many. We steer away from mentioning it because it is not funny. It is horrifying. Especially the pictures.

Truthfully, I don't much feel like going through and countering every allegation our friend made (not to mention the amount of time it would take to parse each woefully grammatically incorrect sentence), but I do feel I should say that I've never set foot inside a 'Hot Topic', nor am I exactly sure what 'Hot Topic' is. I think it is a clothing store.

DCfosheezy's blog, I Hate You Haters Dot Blogspot Dot Com, so far only features the sole entry I've reposted here. It is an honour.

Z-Coils

2007-07-31T16:58:00.001-03:00

(Part of this post has been omitted due to a request from the person who wrote the email we posted. Sorry if the comments now make absolutely no sense whatsoever.)

Our good friend Ben sent us a note telling us about Z-Coil shoes, which are not exactly good looking. Well, I'll let him tell you about them:

Hey- I love your site. I hate crocs as much as any other freedom loving person, so I felt compelled to help. While the link I'm sending doesn't have crocs, it shows another type of equally heinous footwear.

http://www.zcoil.com/

I saw these shoes at the hospital I worked at a few years ago. I couldn't believe that people actually would buy them. The afternoon after the vendor came though, I saw several nurses running around in them.

I scanned back on your site a little ways and couldn't tell if you had already ripped into these. At least they don't have holes in them.

Good luck.

Ben

Thanks, Ben! And they're easy to make fun of, too. Look: Z-Coil makes us recoil. Effortless! And it rhymes!

Vincenzo is back

2007-07-29T22:54:00.000-03:00

Hello again, everyone.

Vincenzo, here. I am back from Europe, which is where I have been for the past five weeks. I must say, Kate has been doing a really great job on the site in my absence. It truly is nice to be back at the manor after being away for so long. I missed the long hallways, the rows and rows of books in the library and the ticker tape machines pumping out our email.

And wow, we've had a lot of email. And a lot of media mentions. And interviews. Kate has been taking them on single-handedly, which just goes to show you what a trooper she is. And that hate mail that attacked how she looks and sounds? Goodness, I was shocked and appalled when I read that. As has been pointed out, that person's allegations were patently absurd.

In my travels, I saw Crocs in Venice, in Tunisia, in London and in all places in between. I talked to locals in Italy and they were shocked and disturbed to hear that in North America, people wear Crocs to the mall, to the movies, to the restaurants and to other such places. In a beautiful city like Venice, the last thing one needs to see is an ugly Croc. They don't belong near beautiful things.

So, keep up the good fight, readers. Wherever you are in the world, keep opposing those wretched "shoes". And if you have purchased a t-shirt or pin from our shop, send us a picture. We love to see our campaign in action.

From the cavern of illness

2007-07-25T22:04:00.000-03:00

Greetings and well-wishings to you all. I hope you're feeling fine. At the moment, though it may be of little interest, I have a bad case of streptococcal pharyngitis. I am bedridden! Woebegone! Steeped in tragedy, as it were. Unfortunately, my condition is made no better by this atrocity:

I may not be an expert when it comes to biblical studies, but I'm fairly sure that this ad rather accurately represents the four horsemen of the apocalypse. If I can remember correctly, they are War (as Skechers fights for a piece of the Crocs pie... oh, get that taste out of my mouth), Pestilence (Crocs themselves, by definition), Famine (Ashlee Simpson), and Death (of Skecher's credibility, no doubt). Fear is upon me like never before.

There are just... No words. Who doesn't want to be seen wearing marble pink plastic mary-jane wannabes with little Shrek ornaments? The height of cool! I think I even see velcro! How chic!

...I'm going back to bed where it's safe.

It's Monday again

2007-07-23T09:35:00.000-03:00

Good morning and good weekend, I hope! Today, I bring you this video, the result of my trolling youtube and having woken up too early for work:

Who is he? What does he do? Why so much Madonna? We may not have the answers, but damnit, do we respect him. We are ourselves outdone and can do little but salute his valiant (if a little disconcerting) efforts. Good work! We told you they burn.

We also got this rather unusual e-mail over the weekend that I was deep in the cavern of Harry Potter (my time: 12 hours):

How are you guys? I just had to say that your site makes me laugh. I really enjoy the humor in it all. It’s great to have something funny to read online, so thanks for that. While I’m not a fellow Croc hater, and actually ( *gasp* ) own a pair (it’s okay, they are at least beige and not bright funky pink) ..and a Croc pair of flip flops ( I know.. but I love them), I still enjoy reading your site. The t-shirts with the scissors totally cracked me up!! LOL I would love to buy one and then wear my Crocs at the same time! I would look a little confused if I did that, huh? Keep up the good work!

How bizarre! How unorthodox! How confusing! She likes the Crocs and the site? What manner of trickery is this? I hardly know what to say, much less to think. We appreciate your patronage and enthusiasm, of course, but you do own Crocs! Yes, they are beige, and the flip-flops are on the verge of acceptable, but... Oh, I think if I ponder it much longer, I'll do permanent damage. I think I'll decide that you're alright.

If only just to prove that her acceptance of our views denotes a finer understanding of things, I bring you a brief hate message:

Hi i would like to say they might be ugly but bye George they are comfortable and i ware mine all the time what is wrong with your heads they are very comfy and i love mine and id get another pair

I just... It speaks for itself, really.

Go well and stay well!

Because you asked so kindly

2007-07-20T11:38:00.000-03:00

Two little issues I thought I'd address before I'm off in bookland for the weekend:

GOT YOUR ATTENTION NOW! ...I'm so sorry.

Q: How can you buy Crocs for the videos/pictures? Isn't that just supporting the company you've worked so hard and so wittily to undermine? Hypocrites!

A: Calm down, you. The Crocs we use in the videos are, of course, not brand name. Neither Vincenzo or I has ever given a penny to the company, so you can rest easy knowing that we are not hideous liars. We buy them at the dollar store, usually. Terrible, cheap imitations of terrible, overpriced shoes. They are, in a way, effigies. We get the point across visually without supporting Crocs. That's how it is!

Q: Why do you put so much of your time into such a negative, useless effort? You update this blog a lot (recently), don't you have anything better to do?

A: Not really, I'm unemployed. Cue laughter. Ha. No, really, I maybe put more time and effort into this than I reasonably should, for a website with only one subject matter, but think of it this way. How many times a day does Perez Hilton update? What about Go Fug Yourself, or WWTDD? Those sites are mean-spirited and exist only to mock people, whereas we're a little more light-hearted and not targeting any one person. We're targeting a shoe.

And hey, if you'll forgive me for starting a sentence with 'and,' I spent four hours yesterday watching the X-Files. I'll spend the next 24 reading Harry Potter. This site takes fifteen minutes to update. Go about your business, haters. To the rest of you, I do so greatly appreciate your kind words and witticisms. You're clever.

PS: To the commenters on the videos, I'm not goth! I was in bad lighting! I have a tattoo of a cupcake, for goodness' sake. Harumph.

PPS: That X-Files/Harry Potter reference really didn't make me seem cool, did it? Oh well. Have a sexy weekend. Get a pedicure.

PPPS: I really love Go Fug Yourself. That site has great writing.

End-of-the-week SCARES!

2007-07-19T19:46:00.001-03:00

Good evening, morning or afternoon, soldiers. Did you just click to this page? Have you just arrived? If you're like me and the first thing you look at when a site loads is the shiny pictures, I'm sorry. I'll try and help you clean up. I didn't mean to induce all that vomiting, but I've gotten so much mail lately about the only foot fashion crime that can even come close to Crocs, I had to show it. You understand, don't you? You forgive me? Baby?

I hear your cries. I hear your screams and wails. You say, "why, Kate? Why would you show us that? Our fragile eyes have been already so battered by Crocs! Why this? Why now? Don't you know about my heart condition?" I'm so sorry, I forget sometimes. You understand how it is.

We've all done it, I know. Maybe while on vacation, maybe during a particularly disorienting life change, maybe in the long-forgotten summers of our youth, playing hide-and-go-seek in the apple orchards by the vicarage. I'm speaking of course of the Socks and Sandals phenomenon, which is also the lesser known Eighth Deadly Sin. Like many of the other sins, at one point or another, we've committed it. We acknowledge it, we live with the distant memory of it, but we try oh so very hard to forget it ever happened. Socks and Sandals, you've been mentioned, and you are almost as bad as Socks and Crocs, the more popular Ninth Deadly Sin. Now we can let you rest.

Speaking of...

[In case of weak stomach, pregnancy, heart conditions (I know!), loose grip of sanity or insomnia, turn away now!]

...

...

KEEP IT DOWN THE NEIGHBORS CAN HEAR YOU SCREAMING! It's going to be okay! Hush now! They can't hurt you, they're in the computer. Hey? Baby? Everything's gonna be alright. Rockabye.

ADDENDUM:

Celebrities wearing Crocs. Scream! Cry! Rosie O'Donnell! They're all synonyms!

...Anyway, champions of glory, I'm a huge dork and Harry Potter comes out tomorrow night so I probably won't be posting tomorrow or Saturday unless I come up for air. You're all glorious. Don't you forget it.

Like the tide

2007-07-19T00:04:00.000-03:00

Things are changing around here, at least for the time being. As you'll see, we now have a "comments" option, which we didn't before, because, well, nobody was commenting. But you are, my darlings, and we love to hear your pretty voices singing us pretty songs.

Also, the e-mail's been flooded! Much moreso than usual! Here are some people that like us:

I stumbled across your site when I was looking up some information for a blog entry about crocs. I really don't like crocs, so was delighted to find your site and a group of people with the same opinion!

Thanks! You're swell. We've been getting a lot like that (or I have... is it a royal we?) and it's a nice change from the death threats. Here's a long one, but I like her style.

I work in the medical field. We're already forced to wear freakish looking scrubs on a dail basis. Not surprising many of my co workers get drawn to crocs. It's the only foot wear that is as hideous and bizarre as scrub patterns and styles.

I'll admit it, I was at one time tempted to wear a pair of crocs to work. Hell, I'm already dressed like a clown I might as well have comfortable shoes... and it's not like I'll stand out with every one around me dressed just as freakishly.

There was just one tiny little problem... crocs don't fit my feet. I'm guessing they were made the same way scrubs were, laboring under the assumption that all medical professionals are short, and fat. I'm not short or fat, and neither are my feet! If a croc is long enough to fit my foot, it's uncomfortably wide. If a croc fits my feet properly width wise it's so short my toes are scrunched.

These hideous shoes seem to be made for people with square feet. That gets me wondering if there is a direct correlation between square feet and lack of fashion sense.

I'm the only one in the hospital that isn't wearing crocs. Which is just as well, the damned scrub pants are so baggy since I'm not wearing electric pink boats for shoes you can see my feet any way.

You doll. Of course, there are some people sitting on the fence, so to speak...

I pretty much agree with everything you have said. Crocs are hideous and whatnot. But............... that kate chic is really ugly. she is all pasty white *she could REALLY use a tan*. and her hair is just flat out bad. combining her ugly hair and her pasty skin... OMG! its just horrible. and her voice eww! almost as sick as crocs are ugly. it just droans on and on and sounds like a man.

Well, heck! I can't argue with that logic. I'm sorry I made you OMG!, I really didn't intend to. I'm not sure why you felt the need to send that mail to me since, you know, I'm the one that runs the site. Or Vincenzo, who I have a feeling would disagree. There are better pictures of me online, I swear.

It's technically Thursday now and I should really go to bed because I have to work tomorrow morning at a SHOE STORE. That's right. The only one in the mall that doesn't sell Crocs. Victory!

Click the links there are SURPRISES

Let's get embarrassed!

2007-07-17T11:24:00.000-03:00

I think I make fun of people often enough that it's almost required of me to post this photo:

Which appeared in that newspaper I mentioned last night, The Daily News. I think maybe the article makes me sound a bit angrier than I am in person, but just a bit. It was fun to do. That's my blender, see? Isn't it nice? It's Hamilton Beach, and let me tell you how good the margaritas are, oh boy.

Was that a product placement? I don't think so. Anyway, go about your day. I feel like I may have to post again later due to the sheer volume of visitors! It's ca-razy! You'd better believe Vincenzo is jealous, all far away in London. Pssh... London.

Media buzz, holy hellcats

2007-07-16T22:04:00.001-03:00

I'm sure there are several dozen blogging rules against posting so often at night, but here in the manor, things are done differently.

Today I was interviewed by both CBC radio and a local paper, the Daily News. They were first interviews in person, as it's usually people from the States or far away lands that like to contact us via telephone. I'm anticipating being regarded poorly by the moms of our fair city for the next couple of days, if the story runs.

All of this attention is (I'm assuming) due to our mention in the New York Times. It's very bizarre, I must say. Today we were mentioned in an article on Slate.com, with this charming image:

I'm that guy's expression, the one on the right. Is that right? I get my directions confused since the war. Don't ask me to try and tell eggs from light switches either, oh boy.

At any rate, I'm pretty beat from all this unexpected interest, so here are just a few of the many kind words we've received today:

Your website is an absolute delight. Sometimes I find it hard to believe there is anyone else who hates crocs more than myself, but alas, I have found one. Thanks for the website & please continue berating this truly heinous looking foot attire.

And:

Hello! I was drawn to your website after reading the article the NYTimes. Coincidentally, my husband, sister and I happened to be sitting around the other day musing about how stupid and ugly Crocs are. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we're not the only 3 people in America who refuse to wear them.

Anyway, while reading your blog (specifically the comment by the misguided Amber Roberson who implies that 6 million people can't be wrong), I thought of a quote I once read in the Wall Street Journal (I'm not sure who actually coined this phrase, and I'm probably paraphrasing): If sixty million people believe in a dumb idea, it doesn't mean it's not a dumb idea.

Oh, Amber. You crazy kid! She's e-mailed us since then with more angry messages, but they're less entertaining, so I haven't posted them. Sorry, Amber, but if you're going to be irate, at least make some more spelling mistakes. I'm pretty sure you didn't use enough exclamation marks. Next time, hey? Keep huggin' those trees. You're alright.

More tomorrow, probably, but for now I have several dozen episodes of the X-Files to catch up on, as well as finishing up with that partridge-breeding disaster in the lounge. Carry on, my wayward sons.

Popularity

2007-07-15T23:10:00.000-03:00

Boy howdy is it too late too be posting this, but we were in the New York Times today!

Interim

2007-07-14T19:01:00.000-03:00

Good evening or possibly morning, readers. How long has it been since I've updated? Too long? You're absolutely right. I recently came into unexpected unemployment, so I've been out on the job hunt instead of the laptop! I do come bearing good news, however; the Tall Ships Festival, currently happening on the waterfront of Halifax (that's where we live!), which is a HUGE tourist attraction, has no Crocs booth this year! It's probably the biggest draw of the summer, aside from the Busker festival, and I must say that the threat has lessened slightly since last year. Good work, Halifax! I tip my hat in your general direction.

Look! Look at all that proper footwear! It warms the heart.

Also warming my cold, cold heart is Jessica, who forwarded us the most horrifying Crocs testimonial I've ever seen, read or heard. If you wear Crocs, my good people, this is the type you are associating with:

"I love my crocs !! I have 5 pairs of the original beach style. Recently my employer told me i couldnt wear them anymore because they do not have backs!!I wanted to cry i went online found the islanders bought them and i love them even more if thats possible !! As soon as i can afford to buy the islanders in every color i will !! I cannot take them off my feet they are truly the most comfortable shoe i have ever worn!!!THEY ARE MORE THAN WORTH THE BONE OF CONTENTION WITH MY EMPLOYER. I am a 16 year veteran employee with the home depot and i cant believe my shoes have caused such controversy!!!!THANKYOU THANKYOU THANKYOU"

That was sent into the actual company. This is not a parody.

NOW YOU TRULY KNOW FEAR. Also, the term 'bone of contention,' which I'll admit to never before hearing.

Stay vigilant, my darlings. We might be in the New York Times tomorrow.

Extreme measures

2007-07-07T18:41:00.000-03:00

Today, we received this message from the mysteriously named Gem R:

I had a girlfriend, for two years. She was great and funny and cute and yadda yadda... but then one day, about 2 months ago, we walked past a shop window selling crocs.

"Oh, honey, I'd quite like some Crocs. Apparently they're really comfortable."

To which I replied with a long silence.

Needless to say, a month later, I got a new girlfriend. She's into converse, but I think I can deal with that.

We here at I Hate Crocs of course don't advocate the breaking of hearts, but we can't entirely blame you, Gem. You did right. You've prevented yourself from having to endure a lifetime of waking up next to someone who wears Crocs. We all know what happens when Crocs get girls at a young age, Gem. First, she starts buying shirts to match. Then she gets accessories. Then she buys quilted vests, gets a bad haircut and starts wearing Mom Jeans. You don't want that. You got out just in time.

As a side note, we at I Hate Crocs are very fond of our Converse Chuck Taylors! We are college students, after all. However, they're not safe from making your feet look ridiculous...

Or ridiculously AWESOME...? Still, a preferable choice.

2007-07-06T15:14:00.000-03:00

I must admit that while keeping the site updated in Vincenzo's absence, I haven't been as thorough as he usually is. I counted on him to keep track of our mentions, links and love letters, but now I'm having to do it myself! What frightens me the most is having to keep track of our mortal foes, the Crocs Fans. I visited their most popular website today and found myself cringing in horror and the Crocs promotional videos they had posted. I wept at their distressing photos of children in rubber death traps. I cried out in horror at their blatant lack of common sense. Why, oh why, does this have to happen?

I was thrilled at first to see it, hoping that someone had relinquished their shameful shoes and decided to set them out to sea, but unfortunately it was just some yahoo floating his shoes in a pool. I died a little inside.

Luckily, some people still have common sense, like this North Andover public school that has banned Crocs for safety (and, assumedly, aesthetic) reasons. Good work!

We also got a little note from Belinda, who says:

Hi, my name is Belinda and I wear Crocs. I even put my childrens' feet in Crocs. After seeing a picture of W in Crocs, I'm re-thinking my position. Especially since he was wearing socks. My older daughter is a fan of "socks 'n Crocs," too, but I certainly don't want her to grow up to be like George Bush!

Whatever reason you can think of, Belinda, we stand behind your decision.

Should anyone object to this union...

2007-06-28T10:15:00.001-03:00

Weddings are stressful events. There's so much to do in such a short amount of time - catering, guest lists, reservations, dresses, family crises - that things can occasionally get out of hand. I think that everyone can agree on that. This is why I tried so very hard to try and understand what in the hell was going on with these obviously overwhelmed brides:

And:

I mean, I get that maybe your uncle showed up after fifteen years and got drunk at the open bar, telling everyone about how you used to love to dance naked to Celine Dion when you were six. Maybe your stepmom criticized your dress by saying 'it would have looked so nice if you were just ten pounds thinner.' Maybe your shoes got run over by the limo, or broke on the cobblestone walkway up to the church, but I STILL can't comprehend this:

...And it's not just because of the Mickey Mouse ears, though they do confuse me. Here's one testimonial that is just so awfully misinformed... Well, you read it!

I love Crocs. They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever had. I thank my sister, the nurse, for getting me (and my whole family!) hooked. It has been said that all I ever wear is Crocs. This is pretty close to the truth. On my wedding day, I was wearing a nice pair of ivory Cayman Crocs that nicely matched my dress. People looked at me with envy because they knew just how comfortable I was. Keep the Crocs coming!

It's like my work is done for me.

I think you gives are pretty dumb.

2007-06-24T23:12:00.000-03:00

Hello and good day, avengers. As you've read, Vincenzo has left for Italy/Africa for the next many weeks, so I'll be picking up the slack. After all, the war can't be waged by itself, can it? My guess is, no! So, speaking of wars, here are two particularly unfriendly e-mails from (for one reason or another) the same person, who asks us to make fun of her, and I can't help but oblige.

I think you gives are pretty dumb. You are NEVER going to, in a MILLION years, stop the Crocs craze. Sure there ugly. THEY LOOK LIKE CLOWN SHOES!!! But they are comfortable. And they can withstand a good hosedown. AND they are fungus-resistant. And anyone dumb enough to wear them on an escalator will pay the price. THIS SITE IS A WASTE OF TIME, EFFORT, AND INTERNET SPACE!!!! you should be ashamed, sapping people for their money. FOR YOURSELVE!!!!!!Go donate to Greenpeace. In the meantime, I think I will go hug a tree. You probably won't post this, but if you do, I just know you will make fun of me. BAH HUMBUG ON YOU!!!!

And then...

I hear you hate Crocs,huh?
WELL, I HATE YOU WITH A PASSION THAT BURNS THROUGH MY SOUL, WISHING TO KILL YOU ALL!!!! you freaks. You will never stop Crocs. Sure, they can be dangerous. Sure they're ugly. But apparantly 6MILLION+ people don't care. they are comfortable. They are washable. They are fungus resistant. Well, I AM YOU!!! RESISTANT. YOU ARE FIGHTING A LOST CAUSE!!!!
YOU MONEY hogging bimbos!!! GO DONATE TO A REAL CAUSE!!! while you do that, i will go hug a tree.

These lovely words are brought to you by Amber Roberson, who signs herself firstly as a 'tree-hugger' and secondly as a 'registered tree-hugger,' though I'm not sure how that relates to the hatred of plastic shoes. Personally, I'm a fan of 'YOURSELVE!!!!!!' and anyone brave enough to break that many etiquette laws at once.

Luckily, we also have people that are not only like-minded and obviously have hundreds of girlfriends, but type in a manner that doesn't incite rapid vomiting.

I hate crocs and I’ve never seen any footwear that’s uglier. I’d rather walk around with Christmas stockings on my feet. I truly was entertained by your website, even chuckled out loud a few times. I was also absolutely sickened from the depths of my bowels by the people who wrote you nasty emails—what idiots!!! Although it was cool that you posted the negative ones—I wonder if they realize how stupid they are when they read them over again? I bet they don’t. Anyway, I’ll be checking in, keep up the good work.

Thanks for your support, Greg!

Next update... Matrimonial Crocs?

"The time has come," the walrus said.

2007-06-10T14:38:00.000-03:00

I'm leaving for Italy, so this will be my last post for about six weeks. Kate will pick up the slack, I'm sure, so worry not. Truly. Don't fret.

First, we've got some emails. Dawn Webb had this to say:

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned the danger of Crocs on your page.

My friend's 2 year old nephew just underwent hours of surgery to repair his foot. He was on an escalator at the airport with his parents and had on Crocs and they got caught on the escalator. Apparently this isn't that uncommon. It almost totally severed 3 of his middle toes.

We here at I Hate Crocs were sorry to hear about that. Though we have mentioned the dangers of Crocs in the past, we tend to steer away from it as severed toes don't tend to be funny and we are in the business of making people laugh. At least, we try. However, we will mention it again. Crocs sometimes sever toes, so watch out for that, those of you who still wear them. Dawn, thank you for writing us.

Julie de Chantal sent us this photograph of the fiends and their cohorts:

Next, we have some hate mail from lINDA SANTAGUIDO, a person whose shift key must be worn down to a nub:

THIS HAS TO BE ONE OF THE MOST RIDICULOUS SITES I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS. SURELY PEOPLE HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO THAN WORRY ABOUT WHAT SHOES PEOPLE ARE WEARING! I'M SURE YOU WON'T POST THIS COMMENT!

Truthfully, I just wanted to prove her wrong by posting the comment. I'm petty like that. And yes, we do have more important things to do than worry about what shoes people are wearing. However, sometimes, we have leisure time and we like to make fun of stupid-looking shoes. Have you looked at them? They're really stupid-looking. It is hard to resist. They're such easy targets.

And now, some more hate mail, from the lovely Sue:

Really this has to be a joke. Was searching the web , looking for crocs and trying to decide if I should buy them. After seeing this site, I will go shopping today. The nerve to ask for donations! What kind of scam are you running? Where is the donated money going ( if people are foolish enough to donate). Wonder what the Attorney General would think of this? Try doing something useful, like collecting donations for children's relief funds or Aids or cancer research. Shame on all of you!!

I don't know which Attorney General you mean, but I doubt any of them would care. The donated money, t-shirt sale money and other such money goes toward our costs for running this site. The purpose of this website is to entertain. If we took in any more money than we spent to keep this site going, we'd consider donating the profits to a worthy charity. Also, good luck with your Crocs shopping. No offence, but you're kind of fickle. All it takes is for someone to hate something before you go out and buy it? You must spend a lot of money on Pussycat Dolls CDs. Thanks for writing.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who wrote us about this, the US President has been photographed in Crocs. If you are up on your current events, you'll know that President Bush is a moron, so this is really all the proof we need against Crocs. Also thank you to the radio DJ who interviewed me for Swiss radio a little while ago, as he mentioned this Bush in Crocs thing, as well.

Anyway, I'm off. If you are interested in where I am and what I'm doing, head over to Vincenzo Ravina Dot Com. There is a new button at the bottom that says, 'Where is Vincenzo?' and it leads you to the exact sort of information you'd expect to find. Where I am and what I'm up to. Maybe some video. So, check it out. There's not much there at the moment, but once I've actually started travelling, there'll be things to see, I promise.

Play nice, everyone.

Cloggens and Dopies

2007-06-04T13:20:00.001-03:00

Good day to you, Croc-blockers.

We've got some things to show you that you might not be prepared for. As you may have noticed, we're not just opposed to Crocs. We're opposed to all of the knock-offs and look-alikes. They're all as hideous as the original and we are all for equal opportunity hatred. Also, I have mentioned that I am not a fan of Heelys, which are those shoes with the wheels in them.

However, two new shoes have been brought to our attention and boy howdy are they awful ugly. The first comes to us via our MySpace comments. Check out "Cloggens", or if you are squeamish, shield your eyes in abject horror:

And from our friends over at FreshTrend.com, the Dopie:

Draw your own conclusions.

Also, we've been mentioned in a national Italian newspaper, we're going to be in the Seattle Times at some point and I'm currently hammering out an appearance on Swiss radio.

I'll be in Italy, England and Africa between June 21 and July 28, so I'll either be posting my findings from there or just letting Kate take care of things.

ALSO: If you've been waiting to order something from the store, wait no more, because between June 1st and June 17th, Spreadshirt is offering free shipping (on orders over $15) when you use the coupon code FATHERSDAY07.

I Hate Crocs mentioned in Maclean's magazine

2007-05-30T02:29:00.000-03:00

Very few things cause my eyes to widen and subsequently my monocle to drop and subsequently my brandy to be expelled from my mouth violently, but these three things happened in quick succession very recently. But what could elicit these alarming responses?

In the library, yesterday, Kate was reading through issues of all of the latest major newsmagazines, whilst I sat amidst the books with authors whose surnames began with M and flipped through a copy of Life of Pi, which is quite a nice little book and the best Canadian novel I've read. Kate, truly out of character, broke the silence and solitude of the library with the great bellow, "HEY HEY HEY OUR SITE IS IN MACLEAN'S!" Naturally my monocle fell to the ground and was followed by showers of brandy.

I started and stumbled and scampered toward Kate and she pointed to a paragraph on page 42 that said:

In addition to the hospital bans, there are other signs of a Crocs backlash. Ihatecrocsblog.blogspot.com has made its mission "eliminating Crocs and those who think that their excuses for wearing them are viable." A recent post stresses the impending resurgence of summertime Crocs: "Like cockroaches crawling out from beneath the ruin of the apocalypse, Crocs are back." Videos on YouTube demonstrate similar disdain for the shoes.

We here at I HATE CROCS DOT COM are very pleased to have been mentioned in such a lovely publication. Maclean's is like Canada's equivalent of Time magazine, for those of you not in the know. Readers of Maclean's, thank you for visiting us. Please email us with your crepe recipes! In Canada, crepes are the new ice cream. You can't get ice cream anymore. It is all about crepes, now. Our three children, Violet, Xerxes and Zooey cry and cry for the crepes long into the night, their shrieking reverberating through the halls. Sleep does not come easy. The crepes are so delicious.

We apologize in advance to the legitimately unstable.

2007-05-27T23:16:00.000-03:00

Hello again, vigilantes. I'd like to (or rather, feel that I must) share with you a recent horrifying experience. Vincenzo and I, on our way home from the Groceries Shoppe, sat to wait for the bus (our horse-drawn carriage was in the Mechanic's Shoppe). It was a fine day and the sun was shining as we sat with bags of nourishment, until she came along.

A woman, altogether frightening and loud, came to us and decided that we wanted to talk to her. She wandered about feverishly. She babbled incoherently. In short, she was at least somewhat unstable. We couldn't figure out what to do until we saw her feet:

It was true. It was awful. It was real. It was trapped next to us in a four-foot glass cube. This foam-footed crazy was upon us and we were blinded with fear and rage for at least seven minutes. Luckily, the bus came and, upon realizing that she did not want to take the bus, she wandered away. Did she know? Was she sent?

All we know is... It's getting to their minds. We can only hope that in removing her shoes, she can some day regain her sanity.

Time to clear out the old email box

2007-05-15T14:14:00.000-03:00

Well, the emails have been piling up. Ticker tapes spills out all over the floor, snaking this way and that. We can scarcely find the beginning of the tape in the confusion. Thus, I think it is a good idea for me to post some emails.

Firstly, our good friend Kai sent us a link to article about Crocs being banned in Sweden. HERE it is.

Secondly, we got an email from our other close, personal friend, McKinley Gillespie:

Hi, I'm a student from Auburn University and I've recently adopted our chapter of the Facebook group, "Just Say No To Crocs." I've put a link to your website in the "Homepage" section, because I think that what you're doing is wonderful. A dangerous notion seems to be spreading; people are beginning to think that Crocs are fading away. What they don't realize is that summer is just around the corner, marking the one-year anniversary of the Croc Regime's dramatic and unexpected rise -- who's to say that in one month's time they won't be recklessly roaming the streets of our nation once more? Those hideous things blew up (though unfortunately not literally) last summer, and my keen instincts tell me that they're going to do it again. Revolutionaries like us need to work together to keep the word spreading. Che Guevara; Nelson Mandela; the Dalai Lama; Rosa Parks; the Google Guys; none of them were afraid to be remarkable or to instill a profound change upon the face of the world. One day, we'll go down in history with them. In the great words of that wise Ancient Grecian, Aesop, "United we stand; divided we fall. Oh, and fuck Crocs."

Thirdly, from my best friend, Megan Ashcraft:

Y'all do realize you're just giving Crocs free word-of-mouth advertising right? Anything that creates a buzz about their product will eventually end up benefiting them. From what I have read on your blog, I have seen no convincing reasons not to purchase a pair of Crocs. In fact, knowing that somewhere out there, my purchase is irking the hell out of some uptight person who thinks they have a right to dictate what I wear, actually makes me want to buy them more. You know, the whole foods store around the corner from me sells these things. I think I'll go buy a pair right now.

Fourthly, from my four wives and brother, Alex, Ana, Elana, Lindsay and Robert:

I recently discovered your site and I must say what you do is a veritable social service. You should recieve federal funding for educating the public. Anyway, Oberlin College is located in Oberlin Ohio, just outside of Cleveland. It is a hotbed for radical leftist politics, gender neutral bathrooms, streaking, veganism...and crocs. Now that the sun is out, so are the crocs. So some of my friends and I went crocs hunting this weekend! I have attached a sampling of the Oberlin crocs.
And lastly, our adopted child, Jesse Tarlton made us this picture in Illustrator:

I Hate Crocs Dot Com in the news

2007-05-10T22:28:00.000-03:00

I was recently interviewed for an article on Crocs and it ran in the St. Petersburg Times today. It has a strong anti-Crocs slant!

Crocs.

You know them. You love them. Or, you hate them with a passion that burns from the darkest corner of your soul.

"They offend our eyes and bamboozle our friends," said Vincenzo Ravina, a 19-year-old from Nova Scotia who started the Web site ihatecrocs.com with his girlfriend. "Croc-wearers are kind of like cultists."

...

Ravina, whose Web site includes footage of a solemn Croc burning in a field, doesn't buy the comfort line.

"Bathrobes are comfortable. I don't wear my bathrobe to the grocery store. And on a really hot day, you don't see me running around with no clothes on at all, though I'm sure that would be comfortable. Crocs are the same thing."

CLICK HERE for the full article!

Crocs are dangerous

2007-05-06T16:33:00.000-03:00

Kate and I, we try to stay on the lighter side of things. We hate Crocs, as you may know, and cutting them up and blowing them up with fireworks are things that we find funny. The hatemail we get is funny. But you know what is not funny? People getting their feet chewed up by escalators as a result of Crocs.

I've recently come across this blog that was tracking media mention of Croc accidents and it is truly horrifying! There are some not so pleasant pictures at the following link, so don't click if you want to avoid such photographs. HERE is the link.

***

In other news, we've been mentioned all over the place. Here, here, here, here, here, here and here. All over town.

Cuttin' Crocs

2007-04-26T01:35:00.000-03:00

Well, we told you we'd be doing plenty of work once summer began and we've already got a new video for you. Yes, we shot it just yesterday, when we found our camera hidden behind some books in our library. It is so big, we frequently lose things in it. Anyway, the video consists of Kate doing some arts and crafts featuring scissors and a pair of yellow Crocs. We hope you like it and we also hope you will like the next few videos we have planned.

Get the word out, Croc-Blockers. Our time is nigh!

A plague of biblical proportions.

2007-04-25T00:09:00.000-03:00

With the warmer weather becoming more and more apparent in our corner of the globe, Vincenzo has been urging me out of the dark, cavernous recesses of the manor. Summer is upon us at last, and he can no longer do it alone. The menace is back, with a vengeance.

Just when we had begun to hope that the ravages of cold and time would put to rest this ungodly fad, they get corporate sponsorship. I was absolutely horrified today, upon visiting the local Shoppe-Mall to pick up some food for the horses, to find Crocs with Mickey-Mouse stamped holes in them. You, too, can have a conglomerate icon sunburnt onto your feet. The horror!

Not only that, but I saw them in nearly every store. I saw imitations in stores catered to children too young to fight back. I saw knock-offs in shoe stores, racks upon racks towering over unsuspecting customers. Like cockroaches crawling out from beneath the ruin of the apocalypse, Crocs are back, and the slaughter of acceptable footwear must be stemmed.

It's time to step up and fight. Summer is here.

Peter Barlow from Coronation Street says no to Crocs - so can you!

2007-04-21T13:44:00.000-03:00

The weather is getting warmer and warmer. Yesterday, I didn't wear my jacket and instead of taking our heated, chauffeured car to town, Kate and I walked. It was very pleasant, though we both know that with the new warmth, Crocs have returned.

Emails frequently bring us hope, however, as the following did, from our friend Andy:

Hello I hate Crocs,

A friend of mine recently visited my house.

We were mid chat when i was distracted by his stupid fucking footwear. Having never seen a pair of 'Crocs' before i enquired as to whether or not he had a foot problem and these were some form of orthapedic shoe, either that or he was into some bizarre foot fetish. This person is a British celebrity, known for his role as Peter Barlow in Britains longest running soap opera, 'Coronation Street'

Chris Gascoyne (AKA Peter Barlow) has now admitted that they do indeed look fucking ridiculous, are uncomfortable and to his credit he has now said he wont be wearing them again as they are rubbing the skin off of his feet. He has just left my house, bright red and promised to put the crocs in the bin, (i for one would never be seen in public with him wearing these awful monstrosities)

april is the cruelest month

2007-03-31T14:14:00.000-03:00

April is the cruelest month, bringing Crocs back into the daylight from their winter storage places. Yes, with the weather warming up (at least, it is here) Crocs will be back out offending our eyes in no time. We've had it easy over the winter, but now it's time to get your game face on. They're back and they must be stopped.

Kate and I have plans for the summer. First of all, we're going to be making a few more videos of Crocs destruction (finally!). Secondly, we'll have one or two more Crocs-related t-shirt designs in the shoppe. Thirdly, we're going to expand the East wing of the manor.

So, keep your eyes peeled.

In Crocs news, Holed Crocs have been banned from hospital in Rapid City, South Dakota because of health risks.

Also, hide your children because Crocs have come up with a brand new hideous shoe called 'Croclings'. Yeah. Don't vomit too much.

Here is some email from our friend Dorrie Hall, who felt the need to email us three times:

Bah . . . fools that you are. It is said that you can tell a lot about a person by the footwear they choose. My crusty old granny likes the cloth wedge type shoe with her gnarly toes poking out the front confronting the world in a most unattractive way. My uptight Auntie digs the animal skin shoe that has, over the decades, molded her feet to look like Polish sausages. My husband chooses his footwear from the latest SuperStarBasketballHero commercials . . . O' don't worry, the blisters always heal. On the other hand, I enjoy being barefoot and free - hence my affection for the CROC. The assorted colors are a plus, allowing me to chose the color that most agrees with my mood. Today I am Cotton Candy Pink. What color are you? O' sorry they don't make CROCS in . . . Puce.

Puce

English usage dates from 1787. [from the French puce, literally "flea". It is speculated that it refers to the colour of a squashed flea or the colour of a flea full of blood. Another theory is that the colour name comes from the flea's droppings of digested blood, which spread out in deep red stain when water contacts them.

Prunes, which are dried plums, can also be said to be puce coloured.

Thanks for the tip, Dorrie. She went on to say:

don't you have anything better to occupy your time?

This is stupid.

Please bear in mind that we had not responded to her email. Apparently she has nothing better to occupy her time. She wrote a third email:

I get it now . . .

You must be part of that groovy crew that is casting their vote for Sanjaya on American Idol.

Very hip. NOT

Don't worry, everyone. Kate and I get a lot of email from crazy people. At this point, we are mostly used to it.

Lastly, our good friend Courtney has sent us some pictures of Crocs in their natural habitat. Look at them and learn. These are the things we are trying to rid ourselves of.

croc blocking

2007-03-27T19:00:00.000-03:00

Good news, everyone. When you Google the word 'Crocs', I HATE CROCS DOT COM comes up as the seventh result. That's fantastic! We're really getting the word out! Kate and I had no idea that we had risen so far until I cruised on over to our Evil Twin site, CROC FANS DOT COM. They are the antagonist and we are the protagonist. Remember that.

Anyway, the following is what they posted over on their site:

Do you love your Crocs? Do you wish others can share in your joy of the comfort Crocs bring? If so, we need your help.

Did you know when you Google “Crocs” Croc Fans . com comes up #9? This is great, but what you may not know is that IHateCrocs.com comes up #7.

This site is devoted eliminating Crocs and have gone as far as recording themselves setting a pair of Crocs on fire. They are even selling t-shirts to try and get their Croc hater message out.

I am doing what I can to promote Crocs and spread the message about these shoes that we love, but I need your help. We need to get CrocFans.com ranking higher than IHateCrocs.com so we can show people there are more Fans than Haters.

What can you do?

Link to Croc Fans . com from your Blogs, MySpace, FaceBook, Blogger Blog, hi5, Xanga, Digg, Technorati and any other website or account you may have.

...

With your help we will burry IHateCrocs.com and rule the world. Ok maybe ruling the world is going a little far, but it will be fun to see what you guys are able to do with a little challenge.

Thanks and we look forward to gaining more Croc Fans with your help! Email us at Crocs@CrocFans.com if you post a link on your site so we can thank you.

As you can see, they are getting more desperate and less competent with the English language as time goes on. We will not let them "burry" us. Whatever the hell that means. We, on the other hand, will take the high road and not encourage you to spam the internet because that would be kind of pathetic of us and also anger Google. They totally hate it when you try and exploit their PageRank system.

heelys, solution and norway

2007-03-21T19:18:00.000-03:00

I don't know about you guys, but in addition to hating Crocs, I also hate those shoes that have wheels in them. They're called Heelys and I am always seeing children rolling around in them. I, of course, turn to my children (Xerxes, Zooey and Violet) and tell them firmly that just as they will never wear a pair of Crocs, their feet shall never been tainted by the horrors of a Heely, either. Each of them nod in turn and then I buy them each a small toy of their choosing from the local toy shoppe.

Anyway, back on topic, Kate pulled the following off the ticker tape machine:

Hey fellow croc-haters.

This is Andrew from Cape Town, South Africa. Sadly the terrible demise of brain capacity is beginning here as well. Alas the dreaded crocs have begun the infestation of my beautiful country, all is lost. The once beautiful vistas of Cape Town are now ruined by hundreds of revolting, coloured and nauseating excuses for footwear. The rot must be stopped, if the crocs have reached even here then there is, I guess, not much hope left for humanity. I always thought that Africa would be spared this plague, however it seems there is now one more addition to this continent’s long list of problems: war, death, famine, pestilence and the croc.

Let us not despair too much; the anti-croc resistance has started here now too. I have come up with the final solution. We must be strong and merciless, none can stand in the way of this blessed crusade. All of us haters of the croc must cleanse the streets of this multi-coloured plague. All wearers of the croc must be rounded up, forced to hand over their footwear and sent to remote reeducation camps where their degenerate attitudes can be changed to more normal and socially responsible ones. The offensive footwear must be treated in a similar manner of nuclear waste (they probably have a longer effective half life than plutonium anyway) that is, they should be encased in concrete and either recycled to more useful applications like pencil erasers or buried underground so that no one can look upon their kind again. The inventors of the croc must be sent to the world court to stand for crimes against humanity. We must protect future generations from this scourge. Tomorrow will thank us.

Thanks for all the hard work and long hours spend creating this much needed forum against crocs in all their bestial and hideous forms.

Remember, we here at IHATECROCS don't condone or endorse any final solutions. We believe in peaceful negotiations and protest.

We also have gotten word that Crocs have been banned from a hospital in Norway. Or, rather, that is what the person who emailed us the link said. We can't actually read the article, as we do not speak Norwegian. However, many of you who visit our site are from Norway, so chances are that you will be able to enjoy this article as we cannot.

It is HERE.

Email us tips on hunting wild game at IHATECROCS [at] GMAIL [dot] COM.

cite it

2007-03-13T13:51:00.000-03:00

Well, here we go again with a new product in the shoppe that is entirely unrelated to Crocs. Sorry. Maybe you'll like it, anyway, though. It is something that Kate said, which caused me to say, "THAT HAS TO BE ON A SHIRT." And Kate told me to stop yelling, because we were in our private library and I'm supposed to use my library voice in there.

Anyway, we have man and lady shirts with words on the chest. The words are 'Stick that up your essay and cite it.'

Here is a helpful link to the store.

Email us your thoughts HERE.

hate mail contest

2007-03-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

The following bit of hate mail honestly filled me with utter joy. It follows the hate mail submission guidelines TO THE LETTER. Enjoy! I proclaim this the best hate mail of all time unless one you can top it. Yes, that is a challenge.

I am officially announcing the first hate mail contest! Send in the very finest hate mail you can muster, with the subject line 'hate mail contest submission' and you could win your very own TOP SECRET prize, mailed to you directly from IHATECROCS headquarters and made with love by yours truly and also Kate, the other half of this site.

Hating crocs is just like hating anything else, un-American! Mater of
fact, it might even make you racist. You should love your shoes of any
color if you were a real American. I am sure you really don't mean
that and this hatred is masking something far deeper.
You are probably just suffering from hillbillyosis. In your heart of
hearts, you despise when anyone makes you or your children wear shoes
of any sort. You feel anger when you see those signs "no shirt, no
shoes, no service". You wish that your grimy white trash children
could roam the trailer court in there bare feet as young ones were
meant to. You know that the health department is a partner in the plot
to force you to ignore your inner desires to playfully cavort sans
shoes with some silly rumor of spreading disease. Wearing shoes also
forces you to clip their toenails on at least an annual basis. Without
shoes, they would wear down naturally.
You are probably also suffering from a side psychosis resulting from
negative peer pressure in your brief education. Dropping out in the
third grade was no doubt the result of the constant heckling by the
cool kids in your school. You thought it was caused by your calloused
bare feet on your eight little sisters, but it probably was the
combination of bringing the pig to school and later Jimmy revealing
that it was your uncle's new girlfriend. His in class demonstration of
man / pig loving was probably too much for that citified teacher.
So in summary, as I know your attention span has been shortened by
severe malnutrition, get some therapy. Use a real therapist this time,
not stupid Bobby, as he will agree to anything and declare you healed
by snakes. With enough therapy, you too can wear crocs like the cool
kids.

Will

1. We're Canadian.

2. You're right about everything else.

hatemail submission: accepted

2007-02-25T09:37:00.000-04:00

Finally, some of you are following the hate mail submission guidelines. When the following came off the ticker tape machine, I was pretty pleased. There are vague threats! The subject line: 'You guys make me sick!' Check it out, guys.

Your distain for Crocs is one of the most appalling attempts at publicity I have ever seen!

I am a loving father of 4 all the way from New Zealand & my kids (+ my wife and I), think that crocs are the most comfortable and coolest shoes on the market. We used to all wear Teva sandals, but when the kids outgrew their last pairs it coincided with the release of Crocs in New Zealand. We all got bright red ones (except for my eldest boy - who opted for blue), and we have never received more positive comments from people in our lives!

How dare you offend my wife and children with you mindless insults! You say on your web site that crocs are 'ugly, foul-smelling and make everything feel hopeless and dank' - are you saying that my children are hopeless and dank? You guys are pathetic excuses for humans. I bet that your own miserable existences are the only reason you feel it necessary to bring other people down. Do you still lynch people where you come from from being 'different'? - because where I come from originality is embraced!

Get over yourselves, grow up and kill the website - because if my children feel even a hint of repercussions from your 'crusade' - it won't be just an email I'll be sending you!

Ian Straka

1. Appalling attempts at publicity? Do you guys have Paris Hilton in New Zealand?

2. The positive comments were probably tongue in cheek. You know, like, "HAHAHA. Oh man. Those shoes are NOT hideous. They did NOT make me vomit shortly before you arrived."

3. Yes, we are saying that your children are hopeless and dank. Someone had to say it.

4. You hit the nail on the head. We are pathetic excuses for human beings and our existences are miserable. Now, if you'll excuse me, Kate and I are going to play water polo in our Olympic-sized swimming pool. And make out under the bleachers.

5. Yes, you are very original. You and the millions of other people who own Crocs are very unique. The millions of you are real rebels. Unlike us conformists. With shoes that don't look ungodly stupid.

6. What will you be sending us? Is it a severed head? Is it a bomb? Is it candy? Flowers? The suspense is killing us.

Thanks for writing, Ian. That was fun. I like people who read the hatemail submission guidelines. They make emails more interesting.

WARNING, INCOMING GAME

2007-02-10T16:03:00.000-04:00

Sometimes people will write us and say, 'Hey, Vincenzo and Kate. How come you guys have no lives?' And you know, we have to take issue with that. We have lives! Kate is an art student and I am a journalism student. We work hard at school and also at our respective jobs. We have friends and families, just like all of you. We don't just hang out in the IHATECROCS offices all day, reading from the ticker tape and drawing funny things on the Post-It notes.

No, sometimes we like to take a break from the offices and take walks on the grounds of our estate, talking about old TV shows we used to watch. Like the Powerpuff Girls or Hey Arnold.

A few days ago, in fact, we were doing just that. We had just strolled past our horse enclosure when I mentioned the old TV show, ReBoot. It was about the 'people' that live inside your computer. They fought viruses and whenever the 'user' put in a game to play, the people would have to be the AI of your games. They had these circular things on their chests that they would tap twice and say 'REBOOT'. I suggested that we make those things into buttons, for other Canadians who remembered the show fondly and wanted to have a ReBooter on their chest to tap twice and say 'REBOOT'.

This is all just a round-about way of explaining why there are two new buttons available for purchase in the IHATECROCS shop that have nothing to do with hating Crocs. We're sorry if it blows your mind.

Here is a helpful link to the shop, if you want to check it out.

giblets and boring hatemail

2007-02-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

A friend of the site, Danielle, recently emailed us to tell us that the woman who invented "Jibbitz" was on Oprah. Also, a lot of you have been emailing us urging us to call attention to them. For those of you who do not know what "Jibbitz" are, they are little things that people place in the holes of their Crocs to make them even uglier. The uglier they are, the better, I guess. I've been calling them 'giblets', which is apparently wrong. I guess giblets are little bits of turkey or something. I don't know.

Anyway, Jibbitz on Oprah. I didn't see it, but HERE IS HOW I IMAGINE IT WENT DOWN.

WOMAN: HAHAHA I INVENTED GIBLETZ.

OPRAH: HAHAHA FEELINGS.

WOMAN: I'M RICH.

OPRAH: BOOK CLUB.

WOMAN: HAHAHAHAHA.

OPRAH: HAHAHAHAHA.

HATEMAIL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Be creative about it, guys. Make it interesting for us. Don't just tell us you're not interested in our opinion and then immediately tell us yours. It's what we expect! Make personal attacks! It doesn't matter if you don't know anything about us! Make up traits in your mind and then attack them. We are getting sick of reading the same thing over and over.

Here is today's extremely boring hatemail:

Elisha says:
Like I care about your opinion. The fact that you waste your time on this is sad!

And here is something from Kirsty_xo (might not be her real name):
Crocs= Satan in the form of a shoe

So anyway! I saw this lady in town wearing red Crocs, I nearly had got a hernia they were frickin' disgusting!! Crocs have finally hit Northern Ireland! I knew this day would come I just didn't think it would be so soon!

So later that month a Croc stall opened outside the foot court in our shopping centre (mall to the Americans) and there were 4 people working there ALL WEARING CROCS!!! So i ran over threw a blue Croc boot on the ground and ran away scared in case they molested my feet with their ugly demonic rubber feet coverers.

I am done.

hate mail - our favourite

2007-01-29T08:40:00.000-04:00

Here at the offices, we’ve rigged up a ticker tape machine to the old email, so whenever we get an email, it prints out on ticker tape. This is the best way to read emails, I assure you. Nikola Tesla would approve.

Anyway, I was descending the spiral staircase when Kate came running up with a long length of ticker tape and pronounced, excitedly, "More hate mail!"

My eyes almost popped out of my head with anticipation as I asked, "Do they make crazy-stupid assumptions on what we look like, are like and live like?"

"Yes," came the reply, "This email has all of that IN SPADES."

So, Kate and I went to the reading room (it's the one with the fireplace) and read aloud from the ticker tape:

" you obviously don't have children. Crocs are great for kids, becasue they're breathable and protect their toes. Kids can put them on themselves, so they are time-saving. Their bright colors also make them fun for kids and make them easy to find.

I think you need to find a hobby or get a job. You need something contructive in which to aim all your energy and aggressions. Are crocs the issue? Or is it your upbringing?? You family life? Were you never loved as a child? Are you ugly? Overweight? There must be some other reason for all your anger and hostility towards a plastic shoe. It's ridiculous, actually. Is this what you've made of your life?? When your life is over, is this the great, awe-inspiring feat that you will say you have accomplished? Is this how you hope to change and make the world a better place?

It seems you have a lot of idle time and a energy. Why don't you find a cause that's worthy of all your time and energy. Volunteer, raise money, go on a missions trip to Guatemala and help with one of the many orphanages. I think you will find that helping the world with positive energy and love will fill the apparent void in your life.

Good luck. "

- Kelly Bauch

I wish to make the following rebuttals:

A) I have 7 children. They are named Anatoly, Zooey, Ophelia, Adi, Viola, Fitzwilliam and Nikola. And each of them despise Crocs.

B) Both Kate and I have jobs and also hobbies. Kate is a train conductor and I work at a chicken factory. Kate's hobbies include standing up for animal rights. My hobbies include hunting wild game.

C) How dare you bring up my upbringing?! I was beaten as a child by plastic shoes because I'm overweight and ugly. This is why I hate Crocs! HOW DARE YOU?

D) With our vast riches, we bought Guatemala yesterday and can safely assure you that there are no longer any orphanages there.

Thank you for your candour!

ihatecrocs orders

2007-01-26T08:05:00.000-04:00

Just a reminder that if you live in the US or Canada and want to buy a shirt, now is the time. The free shipping for orders of over $15 deal is ending on the 31st of January and it is the 26th today. I go to Journalism school and I suck at math, so bear with me while I count on my fingers how many days that is. I think it's five.

So, if you make an order over $15 and don't want to pay shipping, just punch in coupon code FREESHIPPING07. HERE IS A HELPFUL LINK TO THE SHOP FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE AND SUBSEQUENT PERUSAL.

Look, everyone! Those hideous Crocs rain boots and Disney Crocs. I think we've entered into a new circle of Hell. Dante couldn't even conceive of it.

emails from fans

2007-01-20T14:44:00.000-04:00

Here are some emails we've received and read. Kate and I print them out and read them to each other by the fireplace in our new offices, whilst sipping hot cocoa. We have a lot of office supplies in our new offices. To do work. We also have two cotton candy machines and a talking dog.

Bill says:
Sad to say... but I was a Crocs rep for about a year. They are the slimmest bunch of moneygrubbers ever to walk the earth. They never paid me, and now I’m in a class action law suit with them.

Beiha says:
I admire your website. I do a sport called Dragon Boat racing and unfortunately all the other teams we compete against have taken to wearing crocs. Luckily our coach told us that anyone in our team who started wearing them should be shot. Why would anyone wear them as a fashion item? I thought they were ugly gardening shoes.

Sheryl says:
I USED to be neutral about Crocs. After a horrible sight at the mall, never in my life I'll afford a Crocs in my house again. An afternoon, my friends and I were at a mall. While we were there, there was a rather pretty looking lady in her twenties. However, what she wore was unbelievable! To start off, brightly coloured orange crocs, simply blinding, with matching orange shirt and skirt! The fact that people are staring at her is a laughing matter. Add a red nose and she's qualify for being a clown! We laughed our heads off! She gave us a glare and stomped off. I mean, she should have checked in the mirror what she was wearing before she left the house. Geez, not only are Crocs spoiling the fashion in shoes but in clothes as well!

Katy says:
I have the BEST crocs horror story EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think that what you say is wrong. crocs have even saved the lives of innocent little toddlers. I am NOT just saying this to bug you, but crocs are here to stay. In fact, the song "beautiful" sums them up best. WE ARE BEAUTIFUL, NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY, 'CAUSE WORDS CAN'T BRING US DOWN. SO DON'T YOU BRING ME DOWN TODAY. someday, i am going to create a site called ihateihatecrocs.com
badbye

AH MY EYES DOT COM

2007-01-10T15:21:00.000-04:00

Before I Hate Crocs (dot) Com came about, I only had my webcomic to vent my frustrations against the holey foes. The following comics predate the birth of I Hate Crocs (dot) Com only slightly! I think maybe a week or two.

international recognition

2007-01-10T15:02:00.000-04:00

A little while ago (September), Kate and I were asked to write an argument against Crocs for a debate page in a newspaper called Emirates Today. We obliged and on September 15th, our anti-crocs article was published.

We wrote it equal parts! She wrote three hundred words and I wrote three hundred words and then I put them together. Like a smoothie.

Long overdue, but here it is (click to make it big enough to actually read):

first post on the new blog

2007-01-05T10:59:00.000-04:00

Hello!

We've got a blog, now. Finally. This will allow us to keep you posted more easily and quickly! Shazaam! Don't worry, though, the rest of the site is still around. If you will turn your eyes to the right, you will see 'links'. That's the rest of the site! The store, the FAQs, the video and all that.

Speaking of the store, you can get FREE STANDARD SHIPPING to the US and Canada by using the coupon code FREESHIPPING07. The code expires at the end of this month, so if you've been waiting to buy a shirt or something, now is the time to buy. It will never be cheaper than it is right now!

Below there are two interview transcripts from recent interviews Kate and I have given. The first is with both of us, the second is just with me, Vincenzo. So, enjoy!

INTERVIEW THE FIRST FEATURING KATE AND VINCENZO

Why do you Hate Crocs so much?

Kate: We hate Crocs for the same reason that people hate mildew: they're ugly, foul-smelling and make everything feel hopeless and dank. Crocs offend the eyes of those with even the loosest grip on common sense. They must be stopped.

Have you ever worn Crocs, if so what was it like?

Kate: I haven't, nor do I have any desire to. If looking at them is so painful, I can barely imagine wearing them.
Vincenzo: I tried on my friend's pair, just to see. They're not that comfortable and they caused my eyes to scream. Anyone who says they're comfortable enough to compensate for their extreme ugliness is clearly delirious. There's a lot of cult-like behavior.

Would you ever wear Crocs?

Kate: No. Not under any circumstances.

Can you explain the history of the website ie when and why it was started etc.

Kate: The website was started in August of this year (2006) because Vincenzo and I really couldn't take it any more. Our closest friends and allies were turning to the dark side of fashion. We recognized the epidemic and knew we had to put up a front. The website is a pile of sandbags in a torrential flood of distaste.

Why make a video of burning Crocs?

Vincenzo: Because Kate and I thought it would be a rip-roaring good time. And it was very fun. We laughed, many of the people who saw it laughed and the deluded Croc enthusiasts shook their head in disgust. A good time for all concerned.

How much are the T-Shirts you sell? How many do you sell?

Kate: The t-shirts are around $15-25. They vary depending on size and style. We sell them through Spreadshirt.com and don't have much control over the pricing. We've sold over fifty so far.

Why have a myspace and a website?

Vincenzo: The website came first. The MySpace came about because we wanted to get the word out and collect friends with which to build a vast army.

Why should people pay for your charity and besides burning Crocs what have or will you do to destroy them?

Kate: Well, thus far we've had no donations, but there's always hope. We have a few plans in mind for other ways to destroy Crocs, but we don't have the luxurious access to the camera we used for the first one any more. Once we do, we're thinking "trains."

INTERVIEW THE SECOND FEATURING JUST VINCENZO

Why did you start the website, and what motivated you to create an entire website devoted to hating Crocs?

Vincenzo: When I first saw Crocs, I just made fun of them with my friend Matt. We thought they were extremely ugly and wondered if the holes were for aerodynamics. However, the only person wearing them was just some weird guy, so I didn't really pay much mind. Then, shortly after, they grew more popular. Suddenly, Matt has a pair. It was like a zombie movie. My friend Kate didn't like them, either and she was talking about their ugliness in one of her LiveJournal entries. Her entry inspired me to buy ' IHATECROCS.com', right then. When I told her about it, she volunteered to design the site and I was pleased, because Kate is a graphic design genius. She does the vast majority of the work on the site.

When did you start the website and when and from whom did the T-shirt and merchandise ideas come from?

V: I purchased the domain on July 21. There was a little placeholder image for a while. I'm not sure when the site was actually up, but I know we got our first email on the 30th. We were psyched. Now we get more mail than we care to respond to. We still read it all, though. People should really stop sending us articles about kids who get their feet chewed up by escalators as a result of Crocs. We're aware of it. It's awful. I'm pretty sure that I broached the topic of t-shirts. My design was the first one up, I believe.

Do you think the website has grown in popularity and, if so, do you think it will continue to grow in popularity?

V: Well, we look at the hits and it has grown in popularity. Quite a lot of people visit the site. I don't know if the site will continue to grow in popularity. Hopefully there won't be a need for the site for much longer. Winter is coming, so the Crocs will go away. If they're back next summer, you can bet that we'll be back.

Do you get a lot of opposition from those who like Crocs or from those who design them?

V: Nothing from the actual Crocs company. We'd love to get their reaction. Sometimes we get vaguely hateful mail. Mostly it's stuff like, "omg ther s0 comfotrable", which we can't even read. Sometimes we'll get something like 'u sux' and that pains us deeply. I cry myself to sleep sometimes.

Seriously, the vast majority of the mail we get is positive. Someone will thank us for making them laugh and that's really what our intent is. We also get some crazy people who say they're going to steal someone else's Crocs and burn them, which is not something we encourage. Theft and violence are not to be used in the war against Crocs.

Most of the opposition comes in the form of arguments for the comfort of Crocs. The other stuff is usually just allegations that we wish we invented Crocs or that we have little to no lives. Some of it is really funny. We would absolutely adore it if someone were to start IHATEIHATECROCS.com.

Finally, what are your future plans for the website and for Croc destruction?

V:We'd like to make another video. Our plan is to run over Crocs with a train, but we haven't been able to procure a camera. We were thinking about a book of some kind. Either self-help for those poor saps who own Crocs or a survival guide for those who have retained their sanity. We're both fairly busy with other projects, however. We update when we can.