Fur Lined Crocs : 8 Steps (with Pictures)

When I saw Christopher Kane's fur lined crocs in the WSJ magazine my toes curled and knew I had to have them. Then I saw the price and my toes uncurled. $545 is crazy for a pair of shoes when the soles wear out in a year. I love crocs but wish they lasted longer. So then I thought hey maybe I can make my own. I examined Mr Kane's photos of his crocs and saw that they had some fuzzy stuff on the inside and knew them to be "Clasic Fuzz Lined crocs". So I ordered a pair. Took three weeks to arrive or this would have been written sooner.

Step 1: Supplies

I went on ebay and found some pretty crappy mink stoles and some freeby furs. I didn't know the minky's were going to be crappy so if you are expecting crappy mink you probably won't be disappointed. I figured that I shouldn't have expected better since I only paid $35. The feeebies that the seller threw in were much nicer than the minky's and I think the one I used is possum - for my regular readers this is NOT to be confused with my wiener dog who's name is Possum and who most of you know has almost no hair.

Anyway, the other thing you will need besides small scissors (I used my so-worth-the-money applique scissors) that are very pointy so you can get right up close to the hide and not cut the fur, is a glue gun. I have discovered that there are professional, so to speak, 100-watt glue guns you will remember quickly that this is not your crafty soccermom/friend's glue gun.

So when you are looking for some fur I can tell you that you need one stole's worth. I had just a tiny amount left over from that possum stole.

Step 2: Practice With Fabric First

I traced the possum stole onto some scrap fabric and used that to see if I had enough and how it should be cut. I examined the photo of the real crocs a lot and saw how much the fur went inside the crocs and how far it extended on the out side and did the same.

The best thing is that since you are starting with a croc with what they call Fuzz on the inside, you are hot glueing soft hide to that fuzzy stuff and you will get a super strong bond.

Step 3: Cutting Tips

When you are cutting be super careful to just get the tip or your scissors against the hide so that as you glide along you are cutting as little or no hair at all. It's best to cut on the hide side, not the fur side. You are cutting sort of blind but as long as you glide the tip of your scissors as close as you can to the hide you will be fine and not lose too much fur.

Check out which way the fur is going before you cut anything. You will want the grain of the fur to be pointing away from your foot so that it lies against the front of the croc and you won't see the edge of it because the fur will be hiding the edge.

Step 4: Glueing

First I glued what would be the tongue on a normal shoe, once that was holding strong I could pull and shape the sides. It was actually easier than I thought. There was quite a lot of the stole that went inside the shoe because croc's furry stuff is all inside and I thought glueing to that was going to give the best hold. It turned out that hot glue loves the croc material so everywhere I glued was secure.

Step 5: No Need for Clamps

Really, your fingers are fine, the glue is set in less than a minute.

Step 6: Cutting to Shape

On my first croc I needed to do some surgery to cut away the bulk that forms when you are making something straight go around a curve. I just marked where it needed to be cut after I decided which side would be best to be cut - remember that you want the fur to fall in a direction that will cover up the seam. On my second surgery there was no need to cut any fur away. I don't know why, it just fit better.