Summer of Cruel Shoes

This summer has been a roller-coaster ride for the Croc-hater. Earlier, the Boulder-based company rolled out a new, unfortunate style that looks like Espadrilles mated with ballet slippers. We thought that, yes, finally, this was surely to be the shoe's death-spiral, and perhaps the final summer of the Croc. Well, good news and bad.

Crocs Inc. tumbled an eye-popping 45% on the NASDAQ. But we’re not out of the woods yet—while sales of actual Crocs (which fetch anywhere between $24.95 to $69.95 a pair) drop, similar cruel shoes are flying off the shelves at Wal-Mart for as little as $5. Cruelty isn’t getting kinder, it’s just getting cheaper.