And the theme shoe of Singapore is…

…Crocs. 

Everywhere, crocs. The traditional bubble clog to the “no really, a rubber case for your foot can be cutesy” variety to a whole range of flip flops. And the kids all wear ’em too.

It kinda makes sense…Crocs were made to be boating shoes, and this island is so wet & slippery it’s like being on deck at all times. 

Now, people don’t so much commute in these; since you can basically get anywhere in the CBD without going outdoors, both the ladies and men walk from train to tunnel to building in sassy fashionable office shoes. But after hours, the crocs come out — a recent informal “survey” (last night, saturday, taking the subway back from Clarke Quay) came up with about 40% crocs-wearers in one door-line area alone.

I don’t have the same vendetta against crocs that I do against Havaianas; in fact, if there was any possible way to make my orthodics work with them, I might’ve even been a convert. I do appreciate that Crocs actually makes grown-women-sized shoes in fun colors. And from the one (gifted) pair I have at home in CA, I can see that they’d hold up to dumping rain, stay sticky on the soles when wet, and don’t get all chafy when they’re drying out. If only I could get over the weird squidgy feeling of my toenails/toe tips hitting foam rubber…for some reason, that wiggs me out!

Anyway, it’s just interesting to see so many varieties of one brand on so many different kinds of people; from the hipster teen boys in their clashing orange clogs to family men in olive flip flops escorting toddlers in pink camo mary janes. It’s fascianting to me that one brand can have such a huge market share of an incredibly diverse population. Good jorb with market penetration, little foam company from Boulder CO.