Crocs

[de caps]

Just wanted to pass this along.

Please be careful when children are wearing crocs and riding escalators.

This story was on Good Morning America.

Crocs Can Pose a Danger on Escalators

Some Parents Have Reported Kids Feet Being Sucked Into Escalators

By KATE SNOW

Those big, bold gardening clogs that come in bright colors and mold to the shape of your feet seem to be everywhere these days.

The company that makes one kind of rubber clogs, Crocs, sold 6 million of them last year.

In some online chat rooms and blogs, however, parents are sharing stories about kids having accidents while wearing the shoes.

Some people have reported that kids wearing Crocs have had their feet sucked into the side of escalators.

Related

Problem With Rubber Clogs? E-Mail UsSome businesses have even posted warning signs near their escalators saying if you're wearing Crocs, be careful.

Chloe Johnson, 10, from Kansas City, is one of those kids who had a frightening experience while wearing the shoes.

She loved her Crocs. "I wore them almost everywhere," she said.

Last year on an escalator at the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, she had a huge scare.

"Chloe said, 'My toe, my toe,'" said her mother, Kay Hopkins. "And we took the Croc off and seeing the blood and seeing her toe -- it was frightening."

The escalator was crowded, and the toe of Chloe's left shoe was sucked between the escalator stair and the side wall.

"To have this happen with your child standing right next to you ends up being pretty shocking," said Chloe's father, Neil Johnson.

Chloe's foot recovered, but last month, two children wearing Crocs in Arkansas had more serious injuries.

"Imagine that you are taking a child shopping and out of the blue their foot is mangled, trapped," said James Yuen, a plastic surgeon at Arkansas Children's Hospital. "Can you imagine a child stuck for almost an hour? It is a very traumatic event."

It's not just Crocs that pose a danger -- any soft, pliable shoe, even flip-flops, can be dangerous on an escalator.

[debmidge]

My brother had this happen when he was about 5 years old (on a "down" escalator) and he

was wearing Converse High Top Sneakers (1966 about). The store had to stop the escalator. His toes were, thankfully, curled up away from the tip of the shoe - otherwise he would have lost his toes. The sneaker was actually gnarled up between the moving stair and the wall and he had to take his foot

out of the sneaker. The sneaker was ruined - so the store gave him a new pair. My father at the time it happened was looking at his watch; I was about 10 and I was right behind them. I don't recall how it came about that the escalator was stopped in time.

I believe the risk is a combination of the shoes and the parents not using watchful

attention as they should.

However, let me say this, CROCS do not appear to be a good shoe choice for a child. They are

a little filmsy, easy to turn foot over, clumsy and it appears that the wearer of the CROC has less "sensitivity"

around the toe of the shoe...meaning you don't know how far or close your foot is to something. They

remind me of how it feels to wear those rubber winter "boots" that go over your shoes. When we were kids

the parents purchased them in a size bigger than your shoe or you inherited your older brother/sister's boots

and had like an inch of "air" between your shoe and the boot (almost like a clown's shoe) and it made you

again, unsure of how far or close to something you were.

Just like the rubber covered tip of the Converse High Top sneaker, the CROC has a lot of plastic/rubber which does not allow the wearer to know how close to something they are.....an adult can probably

handle that lack of sensistivity but I don't know about a child.

So it does give you something to think about....

[home-based-mom]

I have heard of this happening with Crocs. Apparently the appeal of Crocs is also the problem. They are soft and pliable and when warm (as they are when being worn) they mold to the shape of the foot, giving the "perfect fit." For whatever reason kids have been known to put their feet up against the side of the escalator and literally scrape their shoe against the wall as the go up or down. With a sturdy shoe they get away with it. With an already soft and pliable Croc, they don't, as the plastic will work its way into the gap between the moving stair and the stationary wall.

Make your kids stand in the middle - away from the handrail that's contaminated with every virus, bacteria and allergen from every shopper that has ever been in that store anyway - - and teach them to focus on safely stepping off the moving stairway.