Crocs.com
- Crocs launched its new $120 cowboy boots on Monday.
- The brand has gained a reputation for its "ugly fashion" look.
- The new boots indicate that it has no plans to stray from this aesthetic.
Just when you think Crocs can't get any uglier, the footwear firm likes to surprise you.
The American brand, which reinvented the modern-day clog, released a limited edition pair of $120 cowboy boots online this week.
These black, midcalf, shiny boots — made in its signature rubber-like material — feature a metallic embroidery detail and a spinning spur on the back.
They are perhaps its ugliest shoe yet. And all the better for Crocs, whose management team delights in its ability to shock customers with ugly footwear styles that only amp up the debate between the lovers and haters of the brand.
"Our goal is not to make the haters love the brand," Crocs CEO Andrew Rees told Insider back in 2019 at the height of the "ugly fashion" movement.
"It's to exploit that extrinsic tension because it creates opportunity, it creates PR, it creates media, it creates interest. It creates a whole lot that would cost you a fortune to buy in other ways," he added.
And that it has. Crocs' host of buzzy partnerships and collaborations with brands like KFC and Balenciaga have made it one of the most talked about footwear brands on the internet. This, coupled with a shift toward comfort dressing during the pandemic and the fact that Gen Z can't get enough of these styles, has meant its sales have soared in recent years.
While comfort is a core part of the business model, amping up the ugly is also key. The company reiterated this in an interview with The New York Times this month.
"We love creating things that nobody thinks we can," Heidi Cooley, the company's CMO said.
"It is disruptive, and it allows Crocs to leverage what we believe is a competitive advantage," she added.
The cowboy boot idea was inspired by memes shared on social media by customers and then decided on in a 12-minute meeting. "We don't overthink it," Cooley said.
"Just when I thought crocs couldn't get any weirder...they make a cowboy boot version WITH SPURS. A real wrangler would laugh themselves off their horse!" one Twitter user wrote on Monday.
"STOP SENDING ME THE CROCS COWBOY BOOTS !!! I saw them first and I will be getting them," another said.