Crocs is going high fashion for its latest collaboration with French fashion house Jean Paul Gaultier. The comfort footwear brand announced on Thursday that they were partnering with the luxury brand for a line of shoes that caters to diehard fashion fans. The collection will be available in August.
Crocs x Jean Paul Gaultier collaboration.
The collection will pay homage to Jean Paul Gaultier’s most recognizable design signatures. The new clog styles from the partnership will reinterpret iconic Gaultier moments that true fans of the brand will recognize.
Each new clog design will feature details like the legendary corset and cone bra that is featured on the bold Bae Clog, while the Classic Clog will reference Gaultier’s safety pin motif with draped faux leather.
Crocs x Jean Paul Gaultier collaboration.
By partnering with the luxury fashion house known for pushing boundaries, the new Crocs collection marries the avant-garde with bold comfort to create an entirely new design language that is fitting to what is currently trending in the footwear space. The partnership falls in line with the current demand from customers seeking a happy medium between comfort and style.
Through its collaborations, Crocs has surpassed its original purpose of being a boat shoe. Crocs, which were inspired by the Dutch clog, were initially designed and marketed as waterproof boat shoes. After a boating trip, the founders sought to create a shoe that was practical for on-deck wear, offering good grip and odor resistance.
Crocs x Jean Paul Gaultier collaboration.
Since then, the shoe has evolved, joining forces with brands that elevated the shoe into the high fashion sphere. After Crocs embarked on its first designer collab with Christopher Kane in 2016, the company has partnered with other big names in the industry like Balenciaga, Kurt Geiger, Simone Rocha, Christian Cowan, Feng Chen Wang, Jeff Staple, and more.
At the heart of the brand’s success, aside from its hundreds of celebrity partnerships, has been the dedication from its fans. Because of that, Crocs Inc. recently opened a new 4,000-square-foot “Icon” store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood at 543 Broadway that is the length of an entire city block and is focused on giving fans quality in-person experiences. The Icon location will provide shoppers with personalization and customization, featuring two counters for fans to choose their Crocs’ Jibbitz charms.
“What we’re really trying to do is create a store that [gives] more of an immersive consumer experience that centers on personalization — and in an iconic city,” brand president Anne Mehlman told FN. “Jibbitz charms are the way that we can really personally connect with our consumer.”
“As the world is becoming more and more digital, and we’re interacting more and more digital, [and] we’re a digital first company, we think our consumers are also craving some in-person connection,” the Crocs’ president said. “And we also know that in order to really experience our personalization, the best place to do that is in physical retail.”