A unique organization was founded on campus last spring — the Crocs Revival On Campus Society. This may sound like an enthusiast club but founder and president, Paige Milburn ’17, reveals its greater purpose.
“Our mission is to promote fashion freedom on campus, a term we came up with that encompasses campus environment that is nonjudgmental or superficial,” Milburn said.
The club wants to address the problem of fashion conformity on campus. Milburn said that she feels as if there is a pressure to dress a certain way on campus and that Crocs, for example, are looked down upon because others consider them out of style.
“In CROCS we have Rock On Crocs On days where we encourage our members to wear Crocs to class to get a conversation started and to get our members out of their comfort zone,” Milburn said.
Sophomore engineering academy student Cooper Atkinson said that he joined CROCS because he wanted to end social stigmas.
“At the summer camp I work at, I got my camp name because I own four pairs and wear them all time,” Atkinson said. “I joined because this organization promotes ending social stigmas on campus. We should be able to be who we want to be to the world and be comfortable while doing it.”
CROCS strives to make people feel like they can be comfortable on campus regardless of their attire. The organization’s deeper meaning focuses on reminding students that education comes first while on campus, not clothing.
“When I first came up with the idea people thought I was joking,” Milburn said. “But then I wrote a constitution and suddenly we were pending.”
Milburn has received a lot of strange looks when she tells people her legacy includes a Croc club, but she said she believes life is too short to worry about what other people think.
“If you think your shoe style is comfortable, then go for it,” Milburn said. “It’s okay to laugh at the idea, I think it’s pretty funny that I started a Crocs club, but we are promoting a serious theme.”
Jill Caress, agricultural communication junior and treasurer of the organization said that when she heard about CROCS, she knew she had to join.
“I heard Paige talking about it a lot and I thought it sounded like a really cool organization to stand behind,” Caress said.
Aside from eliminating judgmental attitudes, CROCS plans on holding shoe drives to donate to worthy organizations similar to Toms, according to Milburn.
“We hope to send representatives from our organization to others on campus to talk about being themselves and not putting too much stock into what people think about you,” Milburn said.
Milburn said she wants other students to know that they should not be worried about what they wear to class because at the end of the day, it will not matter.
“I am a confident person, but that doesn’t always mean that my fashion sense has been confident,” Milburn said. “I want to be independently me when I approach something as trivial as fashion.”
Milburn hopes that once she graduates, the organization that she founded will succeed in promoting its purpose.
“You should be confident in yourself whether it’s Crocs or not,” Milburn said. “If you don’t want to wear Crocs to class, that’s fine, but stop judging those who do.”