广东省广州市重点中学2023-2024学年高三下学期2月开学测试英语试题试题详情
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A year of lockdown has brought about some questionable fashion trends. In US suburbs, bathrobes and slippers are now socially-acceptable clothing for a trip to the grocery store.
Ugly shoes are also having a moment. Crocs, the maker of plastic clogs木屐 now with a market worth of $5.3 billion, had a record 2020. The distinctive shoes, with their punch (打孔机) hole design, have long been popular with hospital staff. During the COVID-19 outbreak, they have become a sought-after item for those looking for something easy to wear and clean. The company sold more than 69 million pairs of shoes in 2020 and pulled in nearly $1.4 billion, a 13% jump from 2019. The share price, up 650 per cent from its pandemic low, has set repeated new highs this year.
Birkenstock is another brand riding high on the shift to a more casual lifestyle. The German group recently sold itself to a LVMH-backed group in a €4 billion deal.
The two brands' popularity shows no sign of fading. Poshmark, the second-hand clothing app, said Crocs and Birkenstock remained top trending brands on its site in March. Sales are up sharply for both compared with the year-ago period. Cooperation with celebrities (Justin Bieber for Crocs, women's brand Proenza Schouler for Birkenstock) should help maintain the trend.
The same cannot be said for dress shoes, which were already falling out of fashion. Office closures and fewer special occasions such as weddings and graduations have accelerated the trend. Sales for the category plummeted last year, according to market researchers The NPD Group. These accounted for only 8% of total fashion footwear dollar sales in 2020, compared with 17% in 2017.
People will soon reach again for going-out clothes, more formal than pajamas(睡衣). But the market for dress shoes will never recover entirely. The ugly shoe movement is here to stay.
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