Yet Another Crocs Collab — How the Hell Did We Get Here?

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Crocs have always been polarizing. You either love to hate them, or hate to love them — there’s rarely an in-between. MCM’s latest collab, featuring Y2K Queen Lindsay Lohan, has reignited the storm, taking us down memory lane for fashion‘s decades-long battle. And whichever side you find yourself on, it can’t be denied these foam slides give the loathers and the obsessed a lot to talk about.

When Christopher Kane introduced Crocs to the luxury footwear market in 2016, it was confusing. Was this a gimmick? Had fashion become so disinteresting that a brand had to stoop so low for buzz? As Vogue fashion critic Sara Mower put it, this was “surely the least redeemable of footwear as far as fashion sees it” on the feet of models. It was the first time Crocs ultimately divided the internet; a mix of lux snobs who couldn’t fathom such a déclassé product en vogue, and cheeky sneaker heads who now couldn’t live without it. 

Then in 2017, Balenciaga sought to drag the industry to hell and introduced the platform Crocs. Much like Balenciaga’s Frankenstein Croc reboot, this demonic shoe further caused a stir. It became viral for its unfathomable height, making even the most mundane tasks difficult as YouTuber Safiya Nygaard painfully discovered in her video “I Wore Platform Crocs For A Week“. Its steep $850 price tag was also enough to make anyone choke on spit. Mower called these the “ultimate ugly comfort shoe,” but not everyone agreed.

Artist David Howarth went so far as to point out that Crocs always come out on top when it comes to collabs. “…people laugh at EVERY shoe they release then six months later pay online shoppers double to get hold of them,” he noted on Twitter. To his point, the platforms were reportedly sold out before stockists even had them in hand, according to W magazine.

Since then, brands have continued to push the boundaries of Croc design, from collaborations with artists like Bad Bunny and Justin Bieber, franchises like KFC, to their latest collab with German brand MCM featuring Lindsay Lohan. “The new MCM x Crocs Mega Crush is equal parts playful and chic,” Lohan states in the brand’s press release, deeming them “the perfect fashion accessory.”

While we’re not sure how genuine Lohan’s love for the slides’ design are, it’s clear Crocs aren’t going anywhere soon. Suppose you’re a Croc enthusiast like Doogie Lish Sandtiger, who owns over 2,300 unique pairs, or you feel like hating on the latest pair now, only to shop later. We’ve rounded up the weirdest, “ugliest,” and surprisingly stylish picks here.

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