While there may not be any one word to de-
scribe our collective state of limbo, one
footwear category has emerged, like a gen-
tle intervention, to help us stand astride the
void. It’s a water shoe moment.
Water shoes, or amphibious footwear, as
those in the industry refer to it, were made
for moments defined by being in between.
Not quite a sneaker, not simply a sandal and
unequivocally not a Croc, water shoes were
designed for ease of movement between
water and land, without emphasizing one
over the other, all the while allowing feet to
dry quickly so as to prevent athlete’s foot.
As far as footwear comes, it is the closest
thing to a cure for uncertainty. Or as Teva,
the pioneering company in amphibious
footwear, used to say: “Free your feet and
your mind will follow.”
The present-day demand for footwear
that offers no inhibition has spurred luxury
brands and performance footwear makers
to reimagine the category for strange times.
Earlier this year, before the coronavirus
brought daily life to a halt, Balenciaga sent
its models splashing down the runway in
water shoes, an ode to climate change.
For the last year, Kanye West’s Yeezy
brand has been teasing a “foam runner,”
made in part from hydroponically produced
algae, which is reportedly planned for a
2020 release.
In March, the leap became most visible
when Hoka One One, a forward-thinking
French maker of running shoes, introduced
its Hopara line of high-performance water
shoes, made to “fly” over terrains as di-
verse as “remote forests” or “urban jun-
gles.” Built on a paunchy mound of rubber-
ized ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), the
Hopara arrived in the mold of the compa-
ny’s tumescent running shoes, whose
strange geometry has helped attract a fa-
natic fan base.
The Hopara veers into less familiar terri-
tory with cutouts slashed into its sides, for
easy water drainage, and a rubberized toe-
cap that looks like a small plate of armor, to
protect against riverbed rocks. Despite its
bulky appearance, the shoes weigh only 12
ounces.
What the Hopara makes clear is that the
water shoe is moving into that final evolu-
tionary stage of footwear: the street wear
grail. In this case, a grail worn predomi-
nantly by those who will most likely never
reach the trails and streams for which the
shoes are intended.
Kaitlin Phillips, a publicist and writer
who lives in New York but who was born
and raised in Montana, home to a big hiking
community, prefers to walk around Manhat-
tan in her Chaco water shoes because they
are so comfortable. “I don’t know how many
pairs I have,” she said.
Ms. Phillips said she has witnessed the
rise of the water shoe on New York streets,
specifically among people in the arts scene.
She pointed out that Camilla Deterre, an
artist and model, recently flaunted her new
Merrell Hydro Mocs on Instagram. And
Brendan Dugan, the owner of the Karma
gallery in the East Village, is often seen at
openings in Birkenstock EVA sandals.
After Hoparas were recommended in GQ
(which suggested wearing them with socks
“and maybe a suit”) and listed by the street
wear publication Highsnobiety, the shoe
sold quickly at hype-driven street wear bou-
tiques, like Bodega in Boston. REI, a more
traditional retailer, focused on outdoor gear,
had so much success selling Hoparas online
that it plans to move the shoe into its stores
in 2021.
This kind of crossover success, for a shoe
as fashion defiant as the Hopara, is further
evidence that consumers aren’t looking for
footwear that serves a singular need.
They’re drawn to the water shoe as a func-
tion of the “abjection trend cycle,” said
Thom Bettridge, the Highsnobiety editor. In
this cycle, the ugly is embraced unironically
by daring consumers, and in the process,
they relieve a serious amount of pent-up
fashion shame.
“Recent histories are embarrassing,” Mr.
Bettridge said. “When you look at the water
shoes you wore five to 10 years ago, you feel
disgusted. But you can conquer what once
embarrassed you. You conquer it by loving
them again, and now you’re seeing people
starting to indulge in their out-of-place-
ness.”
While some may find this pop psychology
less than convincing, Mr. Bettridge noted
that this new wave of water shoes offer an-
other form of mental relief: They’re rela-
tively cheap and easy to obtain, a rarity inthe world of drops and overhyped footwear.
The Hopara starts at $120, and Mr. West’s
foam runners are anticipated to sell for $75.
The Hydro Moc is even more affordable.
A water shoe released last fall by Merrell,
the maker of high-performance hiking
boots, it has a list price of $40 and is some-
thing of a Croc gone wild.
It is constructed from a single piece of
rubberized EVA, with the exception of a
rubber heel strap. It’s offered in eight differ-
ent tie-dye colorways, styled to mimic wa-
ter’s hazy emulsions. The shoe’s array ofpocked cutouts, for air flow, could set off a
trypophobic response.
Some see the Hydro Moc as an enlight-
ened response to the reign of the Croc, a mo-
ment defined by comfort at the cost of func-
tion and remorseless ugliness.
“The Croc is so destroyed — it’s played
out,” said Chris Black, a partner at the Pub-
lic Announcement brand consultancy, who
noted the Croc’s own cultural upcycle, from
suburban mom standard to Balenciaga nov-
elty. “I think people will buy the Hydro Moc
because they look crazy and they’re not a
Croc,” he said. “Plus, they’re new and very
cheap, making them immediately appeal-
ing to a wider swath of consumers.”
Merrell introduced the Hydro Moc to sat-
isfy demands from its “hard-core” hikers,
who wanted a shoe that could be worn
around a campfire after a day on the trail.
This required a featherweight approach to
the design, and at 14 ounces, the Hydro
Mocs are lighter than most bottles of water.
“This shoe was designed for the kind of
hiker that saws the handle off their tooth-
brush to save space in their kit,” said Scott
Portzline, the Merrell vice president for de-
sign, who oversaw the shoe’s production.
Achieving the ultimate goal of versatility is
the main reason the shoe has made the
jump from hikers to city dwellers.
“ ‘Versatility’ is a word I love to hate,” Mr.
Portzline said. “But it’s still awesome. It
means you’re getting more out of less, and
people are embracing that more than ever.
From a fashion perspective, it’s when we
knew we were on to something.”
Since its release last fall, the Hydro Moc
has become one of Merrell’s best sellers.
“We don’t see the Hydro Moc going away in
the near future, even if consumers move on
to the next thing,” said Lindsey Lindemul-
der, the company’s marketing director for
lifestyle. “It will remain a part of the
footwear landscape, theoretically for the
rest of time, because it’s such a new space
for consumers.”
Mr. Black, for his part, doesn’t think wa-
ter shoes, and the Hydro Moc specifically,
are immune to trend cycles. In a Strategist
column in New York Magazine, he short-
listed the Hydro Moc as an ideal “house
shoe” for anyone locked into the cycle of
working, dining and dressing up in their
homes.
Will this iteration of the water shoe cycle
become another casualty of whiplashing
hype cycles? Or is its flummoxing ascen-
sion, timed to the weirdness of our world,
more timeless? The question may best be
answered by the man who first dreamed up
the amphibious footwear category, Mark
Thatcher.
In 1982, this former river guide and geolo-
gist founded Teva, and patented the sports
sandal design after recognizing the need for
a shoe that could be worn in and out of water
with maximum ease. Today Mr. Thatcher
spends his days in quasi-retirement on the
rivers of Sedona, Ariz., while conjuring the
next innovative leap in water shoe design
for his newest endeavor, the Sazzi, which he
expects to be available next year.
As may be expected of someone who has
spent his life predominantly focused on the
sports sandal, Mr. Thatcher hasn’t aban-
doned the ethos behind Teva’s old slogan. In
other words, it’s less a question of the times
or the moment than human nature. It’s all in
our minds.
“Footwear connects you to the earth, to
feelings of well-being, agility and health in
general,” Mr. Thatcher said. “People will
buy them for fashion, but it always comes
back to a deep subconscious thing. Freeing
your feet can open up parts of your mind.”Weird Times Call for Even Weirder Footwear
More refined than Crocs,
water shoes are making the
leap from hikers to city dwellers.
By NATHAN TAYLOR PEMBERTONTop, Hoka’s line of
high-performance water
shoes has made the leap to
the street. Above, Merrell
Hydro Mocs, designed for
hard-core hikers, are now an
ideal “house shoe,” some
adherents say.THEY’RE
RELATIVELY
CHEAP AND EASY
TO OBTAIN, A
RARITY IN THE
WORLD OF DROPS
AND OVERHYPED
FOOTWEAR.VIA KAMA0040VIA MERRELLTHE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020 N D5sexual harassment lawsuit. (Ms. Jenai re-
ceived $20 million from Mr. Glassman as
part of their divorce settlement, in ex-
change for her ownership of the company.)
“He’s the father of my kids,” Ms. Jenai
said. “I care about Greg and about CrossFit,
but this should be addressed.”
Of the constant sexualized assessment of
women, she said, “100 percent. That hap-
pens every day, all day.”
Ms. Jenai said the vulgar Wi-Fi password
was also used in the home she shared with
Mr. Glassman and was in keeping with the
office patois. “They are nasty about women,
and they talk freely in front of them, and it
does make my skin crawl,” she said, but not
always. “I think it does need to be said that
both Greg and I, and our friends, have raw
senses of humor. There is a lot of that banter
that I don’t find offensive, but the difference
was, I was in a position of leadership so my
job didn’t depend on how I responded to
those remarks.”
Ms. Jenai said people were punished for
challenging the culture. “If you didn’t agree
with Greg, you would be ostracized, espe-
cially if you were a female,” she said.
The CrossFit spokeswoman said that Ms.
Jenai was motivated to lessen the compa-
ny’s value so she could try to buy it. The
spokesman forwarded an email sent by Ms.
Jenai to Matt Holdsworth, CrossFit’s chief
financial officer, on June 15, less than a week
after Mr. Glassman had resigned.
“My interest and intentions are solely
based on wanting to help with current is-
sues CrossFit is facing,” Ms. Jenai wrote. “I
do not want to see the company or brand
suffer. I’m looking at $50M as an offer — or
thereabouts. Is this something CrossFit Inc
would consider?”
On Saturday, Ms. Jenai confirmed this. “I
was approached by an investment com-
pany who wants to back me in buying
CrossFit,” she said. “In people’s minds, in-
cluding mine, it would be a very elegant so-
lution. I don’t want to see this thing go down
the drain. I’ve talked to reporters because if
I say nothing, I’m complicit. If I talk to peo-
ple and don’t tell the truth, I’m a liar.”
The anticipated sale to Mr. Roza derails
this proposal.‘A Metric Ton of Inappropriate Behavior’
CrossFit’s first workouts were held in a ga-
rage in Santa Cruz, Calif. The county sher-
iff’s department was among Mr. Glassman’s
earliest clients. The method has been popu-
lar among the police and the military, in-
cluding those assigned to elite teams like
Green Berets and Navy SEALs, enhancing
the fitness program’s credibility.
At the beginning of 2020, there were more
than 14,000 affiliate gyms, according to Jus-
tin LoFranco, founder of Morning Chalk Up,
a newsletter that covers the CrossFit com-
munity. Affiliated gyms pay CrossFit an an-
nual fee of $3,000 or less.
The company also draws revenue from
CrossFit Games and sponsorships, like onefrom Reebok, which was valued at about
$100 million over the last 10 years.
By the time the deal with Reebok was
struck in 2010, CrossFit already had a repu-
tation.
Lindsey Johnson, a CrossFit athlete hired
by Reebok to train its executives, turned
down an opportunity to do additional work
for CrossFit.
“I had heard too many stories about too
many things I didn’t want to be a part of,”
Ms. Johnson said, including “straight-up
bullying and sexual harassment of women.
We’ve heard this story before, this isn’t a
brand-new situation, someone at the top
with a God complex.”
After Mr. Glassman’s inflammatory tweet
and comments about Mr. Floyd, Reebok an-
nounced that it would not renew the Cross-
Fit deal. Morning Chalk Up reported that
more than 1,200 affiliates had plans to disas-
sociate themselves from the CrossFit
brand.
Recently, scrutiny of the company inten-
sified after Mr. Stumpf, a speaker on leader-
ship, devoted an entire episode of his pod-
cast, “Cleared Hot,” to what he saw while
working for CrossFit from 2010 to 2014.
“I cannot count the number of times that
derogatory and specifically sexual com-
ments were made about female staff mem-
bers directly in my presence,” Mr. Stumpf
said, urging Mr. Glassman and the company
to release former employees from nondis-
closure agreements.
The former employees interviewed by
The Times said much of the mistreatment
happened openly, which made them ques-
tion their own reactions and wonder if they
were being too sensitive. Some worried that
speaking out would cost them their jobs.
“There was a metric ton of inappropriate
behavior, but even worse, there was a sys-
tematic problem of undermining women,”
one former employee said. “The systematic
way they chip away at your self-confidence,I had never experienced anything like that.”
CrossFit also sometimes flaunted a
raunchy attitude toward women in its own
promotion.
In a podcast interview for CrossFit Jour-
nal conducted in January 2018, Sevan
Matossian, a longtime deputy of Mr. Glass-
man’s, interviewed Stacie Tovar, an affiliate
owner in Omaha and a popular, retired pro-
fessional CrossFit athlete.
Mr. Matossian asked her if she was sexu-
ally active with her husband and if she took
birth control pills. He told her he preferred a
bathing suit photo of her on her website to
one showing her in athletic competition.
“Your body is freakishly amazing,” he said.
Lamenting changes brought about by the
MeToo movement, he said, “You can’t even
ask your significant other for” oral sex any-
more.
“A fitness industry is different from an ac-
counting firm,” the CrossFit spokeswoman
said, regarding the podcast.
That summer, the company hosted a
CrossFit Health Conference in Madison,
Wis. A blown-up poster on social media and
near the entrance of the conference fea-
tured an illustration of a doctor with money
coming out of his doctor’s coat, surrounded
by scantily dressed, buxom women, includ-
ing one with dollar bills coming out of her
short-shorts as she grasps the doctor’s
crotch.
Ms. Jenai, who now runs Manifest, which
provides testing kits and personal coaching
to help people deal with chronic health is-
sues, said that Mr. Glassman’s putting Mr.
Castro in charge will not solve CrossFit’s
problems, since Mr. Glassman retains own-
ership.
“He is a yes man,” she said of Mr. Castro.
“I believe Dave being put in this position,
there is no change. It is the status quo.”
The CrossFit spokesman said it was un-
true that Mr. Glassman would still be calling
the shots. “He wants to retire and home-
school his kids,” he said.VICTOR J. BLUE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESGreg Glassman, who resigned this month, has denied treating women crudely.The negatives
are encroaching
on a company’s
positives.