“Even though it was very difficult to obtain [the clogs] Before we carried them, we took them to the store, and now every store carries them. There's a little bit of 'head shaking' about that, but that's okay,” says Salter, the largest importer of plasticina in the United States. “I'd like to give them a little bit of credit that I think we helped position them as more than just a pure granola product.”
“This is often the case when you have tourists or people with parents. [visiting the city] And they just see them in the store and realize it's ugly,” he added. Of course, this adds to the appeal for some people. For fashionable people or people who are interested in their appearance, maybe a little forward-looking.
Bode was ahead of that wave, sending plastic eggplants down the runway in early 2020.
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Actor Christopher Abbott wore the shoes in late 2023 (while using crutches and other aids).
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Unisex clogs check most boxes on your post-pandemic style checklist. In other words, it's practical, comfortable, and practical, just like Birks and Crocs. However, clogs are polarizing because of their strange appearance. First, it's made of mottled brown rubber. The manufacturer makes the product in another color, a deep bottle green called “Vert,” but Salter House doesn't carry them because the added dye makes the material less sustainable, Salter said. He said he chose to do so. “With sustainable materials, whether it's seeded bread or flax linen, we often find troubling evidence that the material came from the earth,” he says. As a result, the clogs can be a bit inconsistent, sometimes unstable in size, and the taupe color created by the melting of hemp's sugar molecules varies from pair to pair. So it still has that homespun feel.
The mule shape may still be a tough sell, but on TikTok, the challenge of styling the “most hated clog” (or the potato-like shoe that “fashion boys are eating these days”) has become a curiosity. It attracts a large audience. It's a similar ethos that underpinned the broader, uglier shoes of the past seven years or so. Shoes are comfortable, but when worn properly, they can also signal discerning taste.
GQ's commerce writer Gerardo Ortiz recommended Plastiana in 2021 after appearing on the board's runway. He once walked more than an hour from Ridgewood, Queens, to Brooklyn Heights to buy at Salter House. At that time, sizes and stock were still limited. “When I saw it being restocked and selling out quickly, I wanted it even more,” Ortiz says. He liked the low-cut shape of Birkenstocks as a more sophisticated alternative to his Bostons.
After announcing their support, Ortiz recalled that “at least 17 people” contacted them about them. New York Magazine and the Financial Times have written even more sophisticated articles. Now he sees Gardana all the time. This means that I don't wear my Gardana as often these days. “I'm one of those fickle guys where if you see something enough, you don't want to wear it anymore,” he admits. “Honestly, I still think they’re really nice shoes.”
