Crocs for 3sixteen.
Photos: Vincent Picone
Our journey towards our first collaborative project with Crocs began over a decade ago at the Pop Up Flea. An annual fashion event put on by Michael Williams and Randy Goldberg, The Pop Up Flea was a gathering of American-made brands where customers could learn, interact, and shop. There, we met Tony Pace - at the time, he was director of operations at Oak Street Bootmakers - and we became fast friends over shared interests. Tony bought a pair of our jeans at the event and we stayed in touch in the months and years following, running into each other at tradeshows and industry events. After he left the company, we checked in on each other periodically as he started in a new role at Crocs.
Last spring, Tony reached out to us to say hello and share something he worked on that he was really proud of. He had been championing a new minimalist clog style that he had designed that was finally releasing: the Dylan Clog. Its simplicity and lack of a trademark heel strap and ventilation holes were a strong departure from what most people think of when Crocs are mentioned. He sent some pairs to our team and we loved them. Their minimal design made them suitable to throw on with a pair of flowy linen pants or some drawstring shorts, but we also found ourselves reaching for them to run quick errands or to go to the pool. We felt so strongly about the Dylan Clog that we reached out to Tony to see if they would be interested in working on a pair in collaboration with us. A few weeks later, we were sitting down with the team at Crocs to start brainstorming what would become the Crocs for 3sixteen Woven Dylan Clog.
Pulling inspiration from Mexican huaraches, this new iteration features a molded pattern to mimic the effect of woven leather straps across the upper. We added two tonal branded Jibbitz on the wearer’s right shoe for subtle branding that stands out up close; you can swap them out as you please or put the spare one in another pair of Crocs. The clogs also feature our logo printed on the inside of the heel. The “Concrete” color is inspired by brutalist architecture; we utilized similar hues in our SS24 collection and we felt it was a clean, wearable color that would lend versatility to any wardrobe.
We shaped the campaign around a sculptor who was carving the Croc out of a solid block of concrete, almost as it were a work of art. We reached out to our good friend Phil Panza, a multidisciplinary artist here in NYC, to model for us; we loved the authenticity he brought to the entire project as this is the work he actually does day to day. Vinny Picone, who’s shot multiple still and video editorials for us, produced and directed the entire campaign and we couldn’t be prouder of how everything turned out. If you’ve yet to see it, you can view both the teaser and the final campaign online.
The Crocs for 3sixteen Woven Dylan launches both in store and online this Thursday, June 27th at noon ET in limited quantities. To celebrate the launch, we will be throwing a release party on Wednesday evening (6/26) at our NY flagship from 6-8pm. Our friends at Potluck Club will be serving small bites and we’ll have beer and cocktails available as well. Stop by to check the clogs out before we officially launch them the following day. All are welcome.
Please note that alongside our release, we’ve also partnered with two retailers who will also be releasing the Woven Dylan Clog on the same day: Berkeley Supply in Denver, and Bodega in Boston. Both retailers are meaningful to 3sixteen's history over the years. Berkeley Supply has been a loyal stockist of ours for over a decade now, and they also happen to stock Crocs, a hometown brand of theirs. Bodega has also stocked 3sixteen, but in our early years when we were focused on graphic tees. They're what many consider to be one of the best shoe stores in the world and we're honored to have them included as a part of this release.