NFL Star Byron Murphy Jr.’s Yellow Crocs Cleats: How the Shoe Went Viral and More
Amina Ayoud
Assistant Digital Editor
Ahead of the Arizona Cardinal’s training camp in October 2022, Byron Murphy Jr. enlisted the help of visual artist Sean Vergara to conceptualize a custom pair of cleats inspired by Crocs‘ iconic clog style. The shoe ended up going viral.
Vergara transformed Murphy’s white Nike cleats, dyeing them a sunshine yellow hue with help from Rit dye. The creative took a trip to Dicks Sporting Goods to pick out suitable backstraps for the diy-ed pair in order to make them appear similar to Crocs’ clog style.
After attaching the backstraps, which came from toddler-sized clogs, Vergara created multiple holes in varying sizes on the toes of the football player’s cleats using a hammer and a sharp metal rod to further mimic the look of Crocs’ patented Jibbitz indents.
Finally, the shoes’ uppers were sanded down and spray painted that same sunshine yellow shade it was dyed, giving the cleats a singular-toned monochrome appearance.
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Even prior to their joint conception, Vergara had already dreamt up a Crocs-inspired pair of cleats. Murphy, who was the Cardinals’ cornerback at the time, is a certified Crocs lover. “Byron’s just one of those dudes that could swag anything out,” Vergara said to ESPN. “Byron was the guy to pitch it to.”
From start to finish, the process of creating the cleats took 20 hours. Following his Crocs-inspired cleats’ maiden voyage on the turf, the athlete admitted that the style wasn’t super practical, especially on the field given their vibrant nature.
How to purchase the Crocs-inspired cleats
The Crocs cleats are not on sale. Vergara creates unique cleats all the time. In order to cop a set of cleats from the artist, you need to join a waitlist available through his Linktree. Most recently, the artist made two clog cleat styles in red and blue.
Sean Vergara’s work
The creative has merchandise in the works along with his custom cleat works. Vergara’s latest creation was cleat FLOM Dunks in a size 12.5. The singular pair is available for purchase now via Vergara’s Instagram.
Crocs’ collaborations
Although the Crocs cleats are not part of an official collaboration between Vergara and the footwear company, Crocs has been trying new silhouettes with recent partnerships, including the sunshine yellow MSCHF boots, tasty Pop-Tarts clogs or their ever-popular sky-high platform styles.
Beyond those aforementioned collaborators, Crocs has also partnered with the likes of Kanghyuk, Disney, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Crayola, Barbie, Cocoa-Cola, Lisa Frank, Minecraft, Ron English, Hello Kitty and Pokemon in the past. Often these collabs come with the promise of some equally wild Jibbitz centered around each institution’s characters, messaging, brand identity and color schemes.
About the Author:
Amina Ayoud is an Assistant Digital Editor for Footwear News, where she writes stories about everything from celebrity style to breaking fashion and shoe releases. Ayoud cultivated a love of all things fashion early in life thanks to a deep love of fashion history and the luxury industry. In her free time, Ayoud is a self-proclaimed fashion nerd and thriftaholic.
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