Annie Greer, Boulder, Colo. sophomore, couldn't help noticing that the guy seated beside her was starring intently at her feet. Greer didn't understand why her brightly colored, spongy shoes were so intriguing. Where she's from, almost everyone she knows has a pair.
she's from, almost everyone else knows," "Those are the weirdest shoes I have ever seen," was all he said.
all he said.
After this encounter Greer realized that instead of blending in as they did back home, the three pairs of Crocs she owns strangers to stop her on the sidewalk and ask her questions about them.
ask her questions about them.
Crocs are sturdy, lightweight clogs punched with holes that cost $30. Because of their versatility and fashion appeal, more people have become proud owners of these strange shoes, and the trend hasn't passed by Lawrence.
strange shoes, and the trend has been Greer's Crocs are admired so much that someone stole her black pair during a sorority event before winter break. When Greer returned this semester, she thought that the thief would be easy to spot because so few people had the shoes. Unfortunately for her, while she was home,
Lawrence shoe stores started carrying Crocs and the squishy shoes pervaded the KU campus.
squishy shoes pervaded the RC campus. "Once Shark's started selling them they spread like wildfire," Greer says. "I've never met anyone who has hated Crocs after they've worn them. The unique thing about them is that so many different kinds of people wear them. I've seen frat guys, art students, professionals and even whole families wearing them. Crocs owners are Crocs fanatics. There's just something about them."
Crocs fanatics. There you are. Chris Cox, the owner of Shark's Surf Shop, 813 Massachusetts St., is shocked about the shoes' popularity.
chussetts St. is shocked about the success "They were the biggest surprise of the year," he says. "I've never had a shoe that spanned all age groups, from kids to grandmas, like Crocs do. They're the most comfortable pair of shoes we sell and are quickly becoming a staple. I think their practicality and ugliness factor are the main reasons they sell so well."
main reasons they sent so Chad Jackson, owner of the scuba diving shop Blue Planet, 1301 E. $2^{th}$ St., is the person who brought Crocs to Lawrence stores. Jackson first saw them in the Florida
Keys a year ago. He brought back a few pairs because they were good boat shoes to wear between dives and because he liked how they felt. Upon his return, one of his employees offered to buy a pair off of him. When he took groups to Florida for dive trips, most of the travelers bought a pair for themselves plus a few pairs to take back home. Jackson likes them because they grip well, they float, and the resin they are made of is waterproof so they resist bacteria, dry quickly and don't smell.
resist bacteria, or dry rubbing them. "They are the best boating shoes I have encountered and I wanted to be able to bring them to the water-sports enthusiats in and around Lawrence," he says.
enthusiasts in and around Lawrence, Hawthorne Jackson contacted Crocs Footwear and its distributor. Western Brands, in Niwot, Colo., to try and become a vendor. At the time, Western Brands was mainly distributing Crocs on the coasts because of the reaction they were getting from people who worked and played in water. Jackson tried to convince Western Brands that Lawrence was a good market for Crocs. The distributor eventually made
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