I worked at the Boulder Country Club, where most of the cofounders of Crocs were members. Those shoes blew up at the club; before I knew it, I was receiving all sorts of pairs in different colors as 'bonuses' or gifts from the members.

It not only takes smart business operations as detailed in that article, but a strong community. Crocs birthed in a community full of power and wealth, and that helped a great deal. Hell, Michael Jordan received a few pairs of Crocs when he came to the club for a golf tournament...

They're also great for kids... pretty much a slip-on(quick) and I don't have to worry about them being destroyed since they're cheap.

I like the fact that Crocs are anti-bacterial, but it also worries me. The use of anti-bacterial soap and other cleaning products in hospitals has spawned super bugs resistant to known means of combating pathogens. Could Crocs share the same fate?

Is it antibacterial in the same sense as soap? I thought it was a material that just made it harder for bacteria to get a physical foot hold (no pun intended).

There are substances that are bacteriostatic, which mean that they retard the growth of bacteria. Sterile water is actually bacteriostatic, because there is no food for the bacteria to grow in.

Silver and other heavy metals are bacteriostatic as well. Other substances are bactericidal, which means that they actively kill bacteria.

Antibiotics are bactericidal. You don't want to take antibiotic or bactericidal substances on a regular basis, because you end up putting unnecessary evolutionary selection pressure on your normal bacterial flora. That is, you don't want to kill all the good bacteria, otherwise the bad ones will overpopulate because they have no competition.

I'm guessing that the crocs aren't bactericidal, they are probably baceriostatic.