Shrinkage!

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J

J&J

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I love my Crocs. They are just so comfortable and also great to wear around water. Much quicker to dry out than my Tevas. And they float! However they do have a bad point. They shrink, believe it or not.

We did a long traverse of the Davis Path this past Saturday. We had spotted cars and I left my Crocs in the back seat of the spotted car. When we got back to the car from our long hike, I took off my boots and socks and was really looking forward to sliding my feet into my Crocs.

I couldn't believe it. My feet wouldn't slide in. I checked to see if something was blocking my feet from entering. Nope, nothing there. I thought that maybe my feet had swelled up from the long hike so maybe that's why I couldn't get my Crocs on. And I don't recall ever having a problem with my feet swelling no matter how far I've hiked. What could it be?

I mentioned to my wife that maybe they shrunk while sitting in the heat of a closed up car in the sun? I couldn't believe that could happen but hey anything is possible.

I gave my feet a few days to recover from the hike and guess what, they still won't slide into my Crocs. The Crocs really did shrink!!

I googled "Crocs shink" and other people have had the same problem. Crocs can and do shrink if you leave them in a closed up hot car in the sun. I never would have thought that.

So let this be a warning to you. Keep your Crocs cool or you may never wear them again!
 
Hikethe115 left hers in the car when we did Boundary Peak on a hot sunny day. They looked like Danish clogs when we got back. They were almost half the size they started at with the toes bent high up in the air! Bad news for Hikethe115:( but good news for any Danish 8 year old she may run into:D.
 
Ayup

When I worked at EMS we had a few returns because of this and surmised that it was caused by leaving them in the car, in the heat. Can you take them back where you bought them?
 
thanks much for the heads up...I too love my crocs..I have however seen lately in the stores they are diversifying the "brand" I saw crocs with laces...crocs with velcro.. hope they dont ruin a good thing.

M
 
That's good news for me, because I swear the suckers stretch out if you wear them alot. I've already bought a smaller pair and given away the original stretched out pair. Now I know how to shrink 'em!
 
Well this is really important information to have. Sorry for your misfortune, but thanks for the warning.

Write to the company and complain; maybe they'll replace them.
 
forty8 said:
Well this is really important information to have. Sorry for your misfortune, but thanks for the warning.

Write to the company and complain; maybe they'll replace them.
Click to expand...

I'd be willing to bet the surely would replace them. They might even be happy you let them know and they could out some type of disclaimer on the packaging.??

M
 
Crocs are for girls and kids. Didn't you know?
 
CRAP! My Crocs shrunk! I left them in a toasty car yesterday. They still fit, but not quite the same. My second toe keeps peeking out the hole in the front. And, these are my "business" Crocs!
If I stick them in the freezer overnight will they expand? Seriously. I know nothing about physics, but it seems to make sense. Anyone tried this?
 
trailbiscuit said:
CRAP! My Crocs shrunk! I left them in a toasty car yesterday. They still fit, but not quite the same. My second toe keeps peeking out the hole in the front. And, these are my "business" Crocs!
If I stick them in the freezer overnight will they expand? Seriously. I know nothing about physics, but it seems to make sense. Anyone tried this?
Click to expand...

Ahh, the shoe gods look down on you. Crocs are for GIRLS!!!!!!!
 
Hikethe115 left hers in the car when we did Boundary Peak on a hot sunny day. They looked like Danish clogs when we got back. They were almost half the size they started at with the toes bent high up in the air! Bad news for Hikethe115 but good news for any Danish 8 year old she may run into.
Click to expand...

:D :D Thanks for the memories, I remember that.

I guess they suffer the same kind of "oil canning" that plastic kayaks suffer from sitting on racks in the summer...

I guess one more plus for leather sandles!

Jay
 
It's my guess that Crocs® are a type of closed cell foam. They have a gas (air, nitrogen, CO2, ?) filling the cells, maybe under a small amount of pressure. When they get heated a small amount of the gas leaks (diffuses)out or some of the cell walls break due to the higher pressure of the gas at high temperature. When they cool, the cells either collapse or shrink to less than their original size because of the loss of gas.

An interesting experiment would be to reheat the shrunken Crocs under high pressure to see if they can be "blown back up". I don't think sticking them in the freezer would expand them, though.

On another note, I recently bought a pair of L L Bean's Coastal Clogs, a Croc look-alike. The catalog said half-sizes should order up so I got a pair of 11's for my 10 1/2 feet. They were huge. I reordered a pair of 9's and they are still loose but a much better fit. I wonder if Bean expects that theirs might shrink and makes them extra large to start with.

teejay
 
teejay said:
It's my guess that Crocs® are a type of closed cell foam. They have a gas (air, nitrogen, CO2, ?) filling the cells, maybe under a small amount of pressure. When they get heated a small amount of the gas leaks (diffuses)out or some of the cell walls break due to the higher pressure of the gas at high temperature. When they cool, the cells either collapse or shrink to less than their original size because of the loss of gas.
Click to expand...
Unlikely.

More likely: The Crocs are molded using heat to soften the plastic foam cotaining compressed gas. When they cool, the plastic hardens. Over time and use, the compressed gas leaks out. Now you reheat them (perhaps with micro-cracks from use) without the mold and compressed gas and the soft plastic is able to flow slowly resulting in shrinking and re(mis)shaping.

An interesting experiment would be to reheat the shrunken Crocs under high pressure to see if they can be "blown back up". I don't think sticking them in the freezer would expand them, though.
Click to expand...
Most likely, reheating would just make them worse and reheating under pressure could shrink them even more. The freezer most likely would do nothing except make the plastic more brittle, so they would be more likely to fracture if used/flexed when cold.

Doug
 
plastic kayaks can basically "dent" when heated up (i.e. sitting in the sun on a summer day). When kayaks are strapped onto a rack, typically the "stacker" type racks but any hardpoint will do, the sun will soften the plastic and then where the rack meets the rack will dent. But you can reform it back straight with some work. It's called "oil canning" I guess, historically, from how old oil cans can dent in the same fashion (perhaps old oil cans used to be plastic?).

The fix is similar to what is mentioned here, warm up the kayak again and just pop the dent back out. (and use foam pads on any hardpoints)

Jay
 
thanks Jay
I asked because I have a tendency to just leave my kayaks on the deck in between uses. they do get sun for a few hours. Probably not a good idea.
 
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