Crocs are, undeniably, the perfect shoe. With unmatched comfort, versatility and style, it is no wonder that the proud uniform of Jeremiah’s employees and suburban dads everywhere is poised to come back in a big way. In a splashy new ad campaign titled “#FindYourFun,” Crocs is vying to win back America’s heart by going back to the company’s roots and emphasizing the classic clog silhouette that made them famous.

Senior Tedi Beemer proudly wears her green pair of Crocs. “They’re more than shoes…It’s a lifestyle,” she asserts. 

Junior Lindsey Greenwood also understands the true power of Crocs.  “Crocs transcend judgement…when you find out someone else [wears Crocs,] it’s like an automatic bond.”

Of course, the greatest masterpieces of our time are also the most controversial. Just the mention of crocs will elicit groans and complaints from at least someone. Media pundits and your great aunt alike are sure to disapprove. In the deepest corners of the Internet, an entire subculture thrives on hatred for Crocs, complete with devoted websites and Facebook groups with names like “ihatecrocs.com” and “Friends Don’t Let Friends Wear Crocs.”

A little digging through the archives of these pages reveals countless long diatribes and even hate videos directed towards Crocs: in one clip, a woman sets a pair of crocs on fire, proclaiming through vitriolic laughter that “now no one can wear them.” Others show the blending, exploding, and cutting up of the shoes.

Times were not always so hard for fans of the foamy flippers. There was a time where Crocs were very much in vogue. Crocs went where no shoe had gone before, eclipsing lines of gender, class and nationality. George W. Bush and Kate Middleton, Rihanna and Shia LeBeouf, and Jennifer Garner and George Clooney were all united in their love of the shoe, and perhaps never again will a shoe so capture the imagination and occupy the closet of so diverse a group. Shares in the company shot up to over $70 apiece. Everyone was wearing crocs, but the empire fell almost as quickly as it rose, reaching its peak in 2007. In the immortal words of Frost, “nothing gold can stay.” It was as if the world woke up from a collective trance, leaving devotees of the shoe a fringe group, oft-mocked by the majority.

But that fringe is slowly gaining back traction. With other “ugly” shoes coming back into style, it is certainly not a stretch to imagine Crocs facing a similar resurgence.

And to haters of the shoe?

Beemer thinks that “they should probably just love themselves. Once you slip into those rubber soles, you’ll never go back.”

“I mean, you obviously shouldn’t wear them to prom,” advises Greenwood. “Maybe you could wear the heeled crocs to homecoming, though.”