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Crocs to carry escalator warning
Photo by Paul Aiken
Blake Schalk's croc in the escalator at FlatIron Crossing Mall in Broomfield Colorado on Wednesday May 28, 2008. The 4-year-old from Erie escaped injury when his aunt Linda Hunter from Nederland recognized the boy was in trouble and pulled him out of his shoe. Photo by Paul Aiken / The Camera
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Niwot-based Crocs Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to add escalator safety tips to the hang tags of its shoes and launch an “escalator safety awareness initiative” during the next year.
Tia Mattson, a Crocs spokeswoman, said Crocs shoes are widely known across the world, and the company saw an opportunity to use its shoes as a “platform to educate and inform” consumers. Mattson said she had no further details about the awareness initiative.
The announcement comes as the company’s colorful, Croslite-filled footwear has become the center of complaints and lawsuits after people wearing Crocs claimed to have been injured when their shoes were caught in the teeth of escalators. In April, Japan’s Trade Ministry asked Crocs to look into redesigning its shoes after the ministry received 65 complaints between June and November 2007 about Crocs and other similar products getting caught in escalators.
In May, a 4-year-old Erie boy’s Crocs shoe got caught in an escalator at FlatIron Crossing. He was not injured.
Tuesday’s announcement from Crocs was a “proactive” measure and not in response to any litigation, Mattson said.
The tags are expected to be updated with a message telling customers to use care while riding escalators and include five tips: “Stand facing forward in the center of the step; step on and off carefully; do not touch sides below handrail; avoid the sides of the steps where shoe entrapment can occur; and supervise children at all times.”
Andrew Laskin, a New York attorney who has filed two lawsuits against Crocs on behalf of parents who say their children were seriously injured on escalators while wearing the shoes, said the footwear maker’s announcement should have no impact on the ongoing cases, but, in his opinion, it “underscores they were acting recklessly.”
The hang tags and campaign are “all too little, too late, because they’ve known about the recurrence of the problem for years and done nothing,” he said.
Posted by johnbarleycorn on July 22, 2008 at 5:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
More useless warning labels for people too stupid to realize things can get caught in escalators.
Posted by jonutah on July 22, 2008 at 5:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
More useless warning labels for people too stupid to buy better shoes.
Posted by crazy4cheese on July 22, 2008 at 7:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The warning label is not there to protect consumers, it is there to protect the company.
If you buy shoes as stupid as these, you deserve what is coming to you, whether it be a good teasing or even the loss of a limb.
Posted by monkeys on July 22, 2008 at 8:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Holy sh@%, crazy4cheese, I have crocs and I certainly don't believe I deserve to lose a limb!
Posted by tplboulder on July 22, 2008 at 8:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I like the video where this cute little kid is left alone to play with the escalator! Maybe the aunt and parents would be advised to keep a better eye on the kid!
I live in Japan now. I saw a mother with 3 kids in tow the other day yank one of them with arm-dislocating force to keep him off the escalator. Of course, he had Crocs on! Crocs are hugely popular here. Over 4 million pairs have been sold. They are great in a humid climate.
Some escalators even have foot wide stickers on the floor at their entrance warning Croc wearers! Idiot tags/signs are required because we have bred a whole new class of idiots! Just some good common sense and an occassional smack upside the head might be helpful!
I find it funny that the dirty hippie capital of the world can piss and moan about the fashionability of a functional piece of footwear. It is a classic example of form follows function. Nothing wrong with them, except for the hot pink and pastel ones. Now those should be collected and burned!
Posted by jmcmahan on July 22, 2008 at 9:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
More useless warning labels for people with no fashion sense.
Posted by albanal on July 22, 2008 at 11:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This whole thing is rapidly escalating.
Posted by memailme on July 23, 2008 at 6:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Our local Whole Foods was selling these for 30.00. Why are they so expensive
Posted by gsegiet on July 23, 2008 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If they're going to add an escalator warning I'd also suggest the following, just so they cover their bases: do not eat, do not use as a flotation device, do not wear in lieu of taking your prescription medication.
Posted by Darling1 on July 23, 2008 at 8:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The warning tags are only going to help people who can read, btw.
That's not many with the "no child left behind" policies of the last decade.
Posted by susan_g on July 23, 2008 at 8:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sort of like those warning labels on cigarettes--powerful stuff that really works.
Posted by Yerba on July 23, 2008 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The warning label should read: Wearing these shoes may cause you to look like a dork.
Posted by positraction on July 23, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Crocs: Clop around like a Clydesdale but avoid escalators.
Posted by siggy1123 on July 23, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a waste of time. It is not the Crocks it is people not paying attention to their kids.
Posted by mcman on July 23, 2008 at 9:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How about just putting a warning label on children that reads "Parents: please do your job and take care of me"
Posted by Shoggoth on July 23, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Reminds me of Mallrats...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gwGcP...
Posted by VCT on July 23, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How many little kids can read the warning?
Posted by t.pull on July 23, 2008 at 3:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
can these folks chew gum and walk simultaneously? That could be the real problem...
Posted by crazy4cheese on July 23, 2008 at 9:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
monkeys: no, you really do deserve it. i swear.
Posted by inmyriver on July 25, 2008 at 8:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
tplboulder: "Dirty-hippie capital of the world?" You have obviously been in Japan for a loooong time.
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