Generosity that Inspires: How Donated Crocs are Making a Difference for Healthcare Professionals Combatting COVID-19
For the past 10 years, Crocs at Work has equipped healthcare workers and employees in the hospitality industry with comfortable footwear they can rely on all day long.
Designed with comfort, style and functionality in mind, the Crocs at Work footwear line offers slip resistant technology, odor resistance and easy-to-clean construction.
At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Crocs' leadership team recognized their product’s potential to make a BIG difference for healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since Crocs are not only comfortable, but also very easy to clean, the Crocs team quickly got to work to play their part in minimizing contamination and creating safer environments for healthcare workers and their families.
Nationwide Distribution and Impact
To date, Crocs has donated and distributed 100,000 pairs of shoes in the US through bulk donations and an additional 56,000 pairs of shoes through daily online giveaways to healthcare employees.
Initially, Crocs donated bulk shipments — directly to hospitals — containing 1,000 to 3,000 pairs of shoes, adding up to more than 100,000 pairs in total.
However, after determining that bulk shipments were not the most effective way to get their product to the workers that actually need them, Crocs pivoted its model.
"Our goal has always been to keep people comfortable in their own shoes and, in the face of adversity, there are certain individuals who need that feeling more than ever. If you're a healthcare professional in need of our easy-to-clean, comfortable Crocs shoes, we've got you covered."
– Andrew Rees, CEO, Crocs
Now, individual healthcare workers combatting the coronavirus can order a free pair of shoes directly from Crocs (shipping included).
Pivoting to Ecommerce
On March 25th, Crocs launched their COVID-19 landing page, which allows individual healthcare workers to “get in line” to place their order.
To receive a pair of shoes, individuals must input their shoe size, work environment, and shipping address.
Every single day, Crocs’ daily allotment of 10,000-20,000 pairs of free shoes has “sold out” in under an hour.
So far, Crocs has given away more than 56,000 pairs of shoes through these daily drops, with that number rising by the day.
Delivering Through Flexible Solutions
With so many loads going out each day to workers on the frontlines, time is of the essence.
Coyote’s responsiveness and expedited shipping not only supported Crocs’ mission of meeting the tangible needs of healthcare workers but did so while protecting the donation program’s bottom line.
Recently, Crocs — a Colorado-based company — partnered with Coyote’s Denver team to ship 7,500 pairs of donated shoes to healthcare employees at Denver Health, a local hospital.
The Crocs team expressed gratitude for Coyote’s swift responses, creativity in making shipments happen efficiently, and their personable, human touch throughout the process.
“We are really grateful for Coyote stepping up as a partner. We value responsiveness, flexibility, creativity and follow-through – and those are all attributes we have enjoyed in working with Coyote. They go out and allow us to get the best possible rates to support what we are doing.”
– Gregg Mau, Global Logistics Specialist, Crocs
Generosity That Inspires
Crocs was motivated by their desire to give back to those on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, and their gratitude and generosity is inspiring more gratitude and generosity.
Galvanized by the generosity of Crocs, Coyote donated several loads of Crocs shipments to ensure the shoes made it to their respective destinations quickly and in a cost-effective manner.
“We started this as an outreach but experiencing the gratitude of so many healthcare workers in response has been pretty powerful.”
– Meredith English, Senior Director of Brand Management, Crocs
Additionally, several others outside of the healthcare industry have taken notice of Crocs’ generous spirit.
Since Crocs at Work pivoted to focus on large quantities of donated footwear for healthcare workers, Crocs has seen more than 7.3 million donation page visits, 150,000 visitor engagements on social media platforms, and nearly 100,000 people have signed up for email updates.
Best of all — healthcare workers have reached out to Crocs with photos of their new footwear and their own notes of gratitude for the brand’s generosity.
Gratitude – the Gift that Keeps on Giving
With the help of Coyote’s flexible capacity, Crocs has been able to give back to thousands of healthcare workers across the country.
In doing so, Crocs has made a profound difference across the country, helping to keep these professionals a little safer and a lot more comfortable as they work to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
We are incredibly thankful for all their hard work and proud to partner with such a forward-thinking, compassionate company.
To spread awareness of the generous efforts by companies like Crocs, we are updating our #GreenMeansGiveThanks blog post each week to include the latest inspiring stories from Game Changers across the country.
If there is a story you would like to share or someone you would like to thank for their hard work amidst the coronavirus pandemic, take a couple of minutes to submit a personalized “thank you” of your own.