In the spirit of this story, we should get together and file a class
action suit against coats with pockets.

I am confused how a person can get a shoe (even a cheap piece of crap) stuck in an elevator. How do you do that? The only way I can think is stick the toe part right directly into the edge of the stair as it comes back together toward the top. Wouldn't that happen with other shoes too?

I agree that Crocs as ugly as hell and totally stupid, but what is that company supposed to say in response? I am sure tons of people get hurt on elevators wearing their shoes and not wearing their shoes. And I'm sure most people can handle wearing Crocs on the elevator. I don't know what they are expected to do, given the negligence of the wearer--create steel-toed Crocs? They already seem sturdier that foam flip-flops. I also think if they were to apologize to the family, it could be misconstrued as an admission of guilt and make them laible for the damages I don't think they are responsible for. Maybe it's just me.

If you have ever handled a Croc, it would be apparent to you that there is nothing remotely "soft", "extremely flexible" or "spongy" about them. They have little give, and are regarded as comfortable only because they compress slightly when worn and do not pinch. If anything, they are leagues safer on escalators than shoes with laces.

Crocs have always been controversial because, first, they offend the fashion- conscious, and second, they are very popular among kids where one would expect it, and even among adults, with some fanatics numbered among them.

They have many imitators who, far as I know, use the same material, so I doubt this fear mongering is coming from them, since their shoes are as safe as Crocs. I would suspect, for instance, Merrill and like manufacturers who have watched in dismay as Crocs have eaten their lunch at a third of the price of their own creations.

I believe at least you should give a more ambiguous grade to this story. Based on what I know about Crocs, (I have no relationship with the company - just a satisfied customer), they deserve only as much blame as can be laid directly at their feet, which appears to be far less than this article would imply.

Thanks for your attention, and for your excellent and valuable work.

Casey with ten toes

Okay all you litigious whiners out there - and you know who you are! I would like to be part of the positive solution, thank you very much.

Hey Crocs! When's your line of steel-toe clogs coming out?

Wow. I should by a pair and stuff my leg in a furnace. Bet I could make some money off that.

Got to be smarter than the shoe. They trick you sometimes!

There is a nice yellow sign near escalators, that shows that you have to stay away from sides.

But I suppose, common sense is too much to ask in US.

As such, I'd place the blame on the escalators. Wearing Crocs instead of shoes just makes the damage more severe since there's not much except a bit of foam between your tootsies and the giant metal behemoth.

wow...I like how the lawyer indicated that peeling some skin off of her toe was severely and permantently injured...Not that I want any kid to be in pain, but seriously...you don't watch your child getting off an escalator, so you sue the footwear company, of the shoes that were (seemingly from the article) too big for her? When she learns to ride a bike, are you going to sue the city or the bike company when she falls and skins her knee? Live and learn. Seriously.

If there weren't crocs then parents would just place their children in cheap 1$ flip flops which are even WORSE for their feet and make them even more prone to injury. Hope you have lots of money to be able to afford those podiatrist bills 10-20 years down the road! Worse yet they would likely jump on the bandwagon that it is necessary to put your kid in a pair of high heeled flip flops or sandals at age 5.

And unless this was an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon escalator with Razor Blades at the top, I'm not even sure how this is even possible.

They're horrid, and should be burned or chewed up for running tracks, but never worn.

As a parent, we go the cheap route on stuff like clothes, but never shoes. Cheap shoes will fark your kid's feet up.

Its the FRACKING PARENT'S FAULT!!! Croc should turn it around and sue the parents for being such a dumbass!

I'm the first to blame the corporation when they're actually culpable in some way, but there's a warning sign right there on the escalator in big bold red letters about the danger posed by riding the escalator wearing sandals or with untied shoelaces. It's been on every escalator I've stepped onto for as far back as I can remember, so at least 25 years. You'd think these kids' parents might have read it once. It shouldn't be a company's responsibility to put labels on their products that say, "WARNING: Ignoring clearly marked warning signs and doing dangerous things while using this product may be dangerous."

@jaydez: and jellies were butt effin' ugly

came for the Mallrats quotes...now can leave happy

@belisle: That's awesome. Definitely better than the Doc Martens I was going to have permanently attached to "my kids" feet - those don't offer the shin guards or self-defense spikes!

backed 100%

@John:

Not you, though. They look good on you.

@pestie:
Winner of idiot troll comment of the day. Thanks. Now we can all go home.

Your feet stink when you don't wash them; not because you wear crocs...how many others (just in the comments alone) have had a toe injury or near miss with sandals, open toe shoes, heels, etc. on an elevator? This is not a crocs problem...

Companies are not to blame for the stupidity of people, come on dudes, there was a thing called common sense, try to bring it back! btw, what if the kid wasn't wearing ANY shoes, probably the injury would be worse, please people, maybe i'll run into a bank's glass door, tear it to pieces and get horrible cuts all over my body, and i will sue the bank for keeping it's doors "too clean" ....jesus grow up

I wear Crocs because my feet swell and the shoes are really comfortable and cool. Ugly? OK, well, they are not strappy sandals with satin bows, but they're OK and they come in a billion colors. Feet stink? Jesus, people, I wear these shoes because they are washable. So are your feet. Hint, hint.

Maybe the kid just needs new parents. When I was kid my mom told me not to put my toes under the stair above mine on the escalator... guess what! I still have 10 toes today becasue my mom is intelligent.

Stupid people shouldnt breed then expect corporations to pay to raise their equally stupid children.

Also, it's not the fact that Crocs come in different colors or styles,...it's that Crocs, to pretty much the majority of people posting on this thread, are just really, really ugly. Doesn't matter how much you dress it up with leather (men's shoes) or turn it into a flip flop, there are better looking alternatives.

After spending a lot of time in several hospitals when my dad was ill over the summer, I realized that 90% of the nurses and surgeons were wearing Crocs. It was then that I decided to buy a pair.

Yes, I admit their ugly and seldom wear them out of the house, but they're super comfy. I wear them for working around the house or in the yard (and yeah, occasionally to the grocery store).

My husband even bought me a pair of faux-fur lined ones for Christmas and I love them. More comfy than any slippers I've ever owned.

As for the escalators? My mom taught me to pick up my feet when I was just a kid. Parents always wanna blame somebody else these days.

1. Some Crocs styles are ugly and some are nice, go to the website.

2. They are just as incredibly comfortable as claimed.

3. They do not become stinky-- just the opposite. Honestly, for all shoes that are worn sockless, these have to be the least stinky of all.

4. They are an amazing product for certain occupations and for gardening.

5. If you cannot use an escalator, it is your own damn fault.

This story reminds me of that scene in "Bowling for Columbine" about the culture of fear in the US; "killer escalators". Blame it on Bin Laden, he must have designed Crocs!

Crocs is correct to claim that it's an escalator problem.

Crocs are awesome for large scale floor stripping and rewaxing. The stripper stuff is SLIPPERY.

Adult style shoe? Here are examples of what I'd consider an "adult style shoe":

1) Shoes with 6" stiletto heels
2) Shoes with switchblades in the soles

Here are examples of what I would NOT consider "adult style shoes":
1) No-heel, high-traction, easy to clean shoes in whimsical colors.

Guess which category Crocs fall under?

While I think the Croc higher ups are quite insensitive & should address this situation personally instead of blaming it on escalator safety, I do also believe you shouldn't put your kid in Crocs. Atleast if they're at home, fine, but out in public, heck no. First of all, they're butt ugly, and second, due to the construction of the shoe, situations like this & simple trip & fall situations are easy to come by. Kids aren't the most graceful of beings & they need sneakers or a shoe that will actually help them, not hinder them.

uhm... well if that were the case, how did the kid walk onto the escalator or anywhere at all?

@Kounji: I only clicked on this article to leave those same quotes. That'll teach me not to constantly refresh the page while at work!

Again, it's about pride (Crocs are uglier than flip flops, but just by a hair).

PS- Crocs are really ugly. Have some pride people!

The croc is made of a hard molded resin, which is pliable and rubbery, but resilient to puncture and tearing.

The croc wearer is standing on the escalator with the toe of their shoe pressed against the front step. Since the croc is designed to have great traction, particularly against hard surfaces, and the entire shoe is of uniform material, the toe is catching against the front step.

Near the top of the escalator, when the front step begins to descend into the escalator, instead of sliding, the toe of the croc is fed between the two steps, pulling the shoe, and the foot within, between the escalator steps.

Because crocs have the same pliable, rubber construction all the way to the front of the shoe, they would be particularly vulnerable to this sort of mishap.

@Hanke: I don't think they are any more likely to get caught in the comb plate, but once your shoe is fed between the steps, the plate shears off the front of the shoe, along with your toes.

@tedyc03:

Sorry, I thought the parents wanted the warning on the shoes... I agree, its not the fault of the escalator company.

@SadSam: That's not the escalator-maker's fault! That'd be like suing a concrete manufacturer because their product becomes slippery when wet. They didn't apply the water and the escalator makers didn't apply the non-stick to the shoes.

The situation has gotten so bad that they have signs on the Metro in Washnigton, DC with pictures of crocodiles that say "what do escalators and crocodiles have in common? They love to eat shoes..." There were some 200 cases of croc-related escalator repairs necessary last summer because of stupidity.

They were never good looking. Why still wear them after hearing about toes getting swallowed by escalators?
Although, it's not just your toes getting swallowed, it's your feet's dignity getting swallowed, too.

I'm not defending this kid or his/her parents but isn't the problem with Crocs and escalators (which everyone seems to be missing) that Crocs are non-skid and they 'stick' to the escalator and the kid can't step off?

When I was a kid, back before people were so sue happy, I had the top of my big toe almost completely cut off in one of those cup and saucer rides at an amusement park. I'd worn sandals and they had apparantely forgotten to put the cover back over the gears that turn the cup round and round. The top of the toe dangled by a thread.

Crocs ugly? What, uglier than Uggs, uglier than Keens, uglier than the KISS styled boots the chicks wear at work, or brown tennis shoes, or tennis shoes worn for anything other than sports? Track shoes, racing shoes, bicycling shoes, their all pretty damn ugly. Wasn't aware Blackwell posted to the Consumerist.

I wear Crocs all the time, and my feet don't get sweaty and stink. My feet do stink after wearing a pair of expensive cap toe leather dress shoes, though.

@secretcurse: But they're comfortable. Form follows function.

@inspiron:And of course dignity is related to whether or not you approve of someone's footwear.

I'd set damages at $20. Tops.

$7Million is pure BS.

i agree. the lawsuits should be against the parents for forcing their kids to wear these tacky shoes in the first place. crocs are to footwear what applebee's is to food.

My three-year-old knows that he has to jump over the comb plate, and I hold his hand. He loves the escalator. We spent 20 minutes just going up and down them. It's mommy's fault you're hurt, kid. Sue her for neglect.

That's what you get for wearing crocs. The only thing this report tells me is that if you're dumb enough to wear crocs, you're probably more likely to be too dumb to use an escalator than the average person...

My Girlfriend wears them to work, because she is a veterinarian and is on her feet all the time. Supposedly they are confy, and easy to clean. Ugly yes, but practical in that situation. SHe's got the good sense to not wear them out anywhere else. Some (most) people don't have the good sense of how to dress. Sweatsuits are also not "going out" wear, and just because pants stretch to fit you, doesn't mean they look good.

And because Crocs are so popular with people in certain professions, like Mario Batali, because the extra-grippy bottoms helped deal with kitchen messes, why are people thinking all of a sudden that they need extra traction for a regular street?

Aside from the fact that they're the ugliest things and they do make your feet smell.

you should have taken the fucking stairs dumbass!

then you prolly woulda tumbled down them too... so more logically, you could have done what i do with my child, "hey [insert your child's name], be careful now, watch out on the escalator, and hold onto my hand... get ready to get off and make sure you step over the ledge, so your feet don't get sucked under"... then you watch them and lift 'em over if they need help.

seriously, lol, how can they say anything, but "Escalator safety is an issue we take very seriously, and we are looking into this report"?... i can see it now, every box of shoes you buy from here on out, will have an escalator warning label... give me a fucking break.

@puyro: I heard they make people look like pompous lable whores.

Crocs have got to be the ugliest thing since jelly shoes.

"Just because a pair of shoes comes in pretty colors with Disney characters on it doesn't make it safe."

Well, DUH.

$7 Million because your kid skinned their toe? I know Band-Aids at the ER are expensive, but come on!

Gah, whatever happened to personal responsibility!?!

You missed the point of the article. It's regardless of whose fault it is. The fact is that the company doesn't care and uses the same public statements as everyone else does.

I agree with you there, I wish people had some dignity and would stop wearing those pieces of crap.

As for this escalator incident, I have no sympathy for those people.

The sandals phase started back in the mid 90s after big companies found a market in selling flip-flops with a make over. Back then, one company called Tiva charged about 60 dollars a pair, and people bought them up. Other companies got involved, and you know the rest of the story from there.

Another good thing not to do on an escalator: Run up the steps with your hands in your coat pockets. I did that about 20 years ago when I was 7. Tripped and banged my chin on the edge of a step, and I ended up needing a bunch or stitches. Good times...... My chin hurts again just thinking about it.

Their shoes are completely safe... until you put them on your feet and step on an escalator.

If only people could figure out how to ride escalators without injuring themselves! The world would be a better place.