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Submitted by Diana L
Jellies became popular after World War II when there was a leather shortage, but made a big comeback in the ’80s. Back then, you could get Jelly Shoes for a buck. Maybe they looked cool, maybe they didn’t, but could you ever buy Crocs for a dollar? I think not.
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Hail Hitler!
My mom wouldn’t let me have them. She thought they’d melt or make my feet too warm.
You should tell your mom that jelly shoes do/did not contain an open flame or other heat source.
Yay! I’ve *finally* found somebody else who’s mom thought the same way mine did =P My mom finally bought me a pair but I could only wear them for very short periods of time (I think I wore them to church usually) and I had to wash my feet as soon as I got home LOL
Blisters!
Yes Sir/Ma’am – Blisters – the thing I remember most about those shoes- had to wear them though…ah, the mind of a 4 year old.
I got blisters too… and they got infected and I got blood poisoning. Painful and possibly fatal… the jelly is evil.
Love these even though they made my feet sweat and gave blisters like nobody’s business. There’s probably still one at the bottom of the lake that I lost when i went swimming many, many years ago.
it kind of makes me laugh that they’ve made a bit of a comeback lately.
God those things made my feet hurt. But they looked AWESOME in the fourth grade!
I remember having these, I had a pair of pink ones. And then I lost one to a lake one day while twirling around on a dock. T___T My mom was so pissed at me!
I used to have a pair of these, loved them, but they had no traction whatsoever, and I lived in a rainy place. One day I was climbing off playground equipment and slipped on the wet wood and broke my collar bone falling. That was the last time my mother ever let me wear them… *Sigh* Oh, the memories.
When i was 5 i had a pair of neon pink jellies, and despite the terrible terrible pain thay caused, they where still the most awesome thing ever
when i was in 8th grade i had a pair of clear HIGH HEEL jellies, which i wore to a dance with PURPLE tall socks underneath. thats pretty awesome actually.
Blast from the ass
I think I may have sworn out loud when I saw these up … *rolls eyes*
I loved my Jellies. they were so much more comfy than flip flops, and if you got them jut warm enough, they softened up enough to stop blisters, but not so hot your feet started to sweat, and they got all sticky.
I saw some in adult sizes in the Buck Shop the other day. I was tempeted to get some. possibly thankfully, they didn’t have a 9.5…
Don’t forget a wrist-to-elbow armful of jelly *bracelets* to match.
I found them at Target last year for $2.50. I bought myself 2 pair. When I wear them, people say, “Oh my god, are you wearing jellies?!”
the Dude abides
The Dude would never wear Crocs. Neither would anyone with any fashion sense.
You Jellin?
Like Magellan.
I had clear jellies with silver glitter! They had small heels that always got gravel stuck in them, and open peep-toes. They were awesome and terrible at the same time! I also had white ones. My sister had neon colors.
Ah, yes, indeed the gravel. Mine ALWAYS had some pebbles stuck in them. Don’t remember them being painful. If they had I am sure they would have been off my feet for good. Then, as now, I do not tolerate uncomfortable clothes.
I had so many of these shoes! I guess my feet were really tough because I never go blisters and my feet never felt hot.
Every year on holiday I would BEG my mum for a pair of them! Usually a cheap pair, I loved them for paddling in the sea!
That photo isn’t of the jellies I wore, though — I had the open-weave ones with the gravel-trapping heels, too — in a half-dozen colors. They were really comfortable, and they were so cheap you didn’t care if they tore or got lost.
I tore mine out all the time! But i didn’t care, I would wear them even if my toes broke through and they didn’t fit right anymore…..Maybe that’s why my toes still to this day look so squished.
Click for pic of 80s style.
Jellies may have worn out fast, but they were so pretty, in my child opinion. Hard to find some in size six, though.
No no no no no!!! My toes hated me for these – I owned one pair and one pair only. I was four. My mom got rid of them after I, running in my jelly shoes, took a flying leap and skinned my knee open. It’s been 22 years. The scar is still there. This is not a vintage win but a vintage fail.
i seem to remember these always gave me blisters.
LOL….ahhhh, the blisters from the teal pair I had in sixth grade – my mom actually MADE me wear these because they were some of the cheapest shoes you could buy (along with the $2.99 clearance outlet stretch pants *ugh*) Oh, and BTW you can buy faux-Crocs at the dollar store for $2….;)
EPIC FAIL! Just LOOKING at these makes my feet erupt into a gagillion blisters. >:[ No, no, no, no… these evil things should never, ever come back.
I never had them for fear they would make my feet sweat, but they were (and still are) FAR CUTER than those gawd-awful Crocs.
And what’s up with BOYS (and apparently men too) wearing Crocs? No kidding..quite a scary sight to behold.
The picture doesn’t show true jellies. True jellies did not have a foam sole, but a nice plastic gravel trapping sole. I had a cute dress shoe style hot pink pair, and later a clear pair much like the photo above, but of course without the foam sole.
My daughter had 2 or 3 different ones. She never got blisters, and they were great play shoes, especially for splashing in puddles, or wearing at the beach (interesting that more than one memory above was having lost them near the water). They did break easily, but it was a toss up whether they wore out/broke or she outgrew them first. Great kid shoes, as far as I was concerned.
i had a pair of these when i was a little girl. it was pink colored. i wore them so much my feet stank to high heaven (rarely wore socks with them). even when my feet out grew the shoe i still wore them with my toes poking out. one day my mom snatched them and through them away. i grabbed them out of the dumpster, sprayed them with a hose and back to la la land. i think wearing those shoes introduced me to athletes foot at a very very young age lol
*gasp* You could wear jelly shoes as regular shoes?!
My sisters and I only got to wear these when we went to the beach, so we wouldn’t be bothered by hot sand or sharp rocks or something. They were awesome, except for the sand that inevitably found its way in…
Finally! This whole time reading other comments I was wondering “what’s wrong with all these people, they wore those as *regular* shoes?!?”
I always thought they were hideous! Ugh..just thinking..though really useful for the time spent at a beach, in/out of water..
I loved these shoes! My sister and I each had a clear pair and we wore them so much! One thing about them I didn’t like was that where we live we don’t have brown dirt we have red clay and even when the ground was dry it always managed to stain our clear jellies and no matter how many times we washed them they were a orangeish clear color.
Jelly shoes! My favorite sandals when I was about 8, I think.
What’s up with the picture showing these silly foam soles? Those aren’t real jellies – mine had the jelly soles as well. I had a blue pair and a sparkle-clear pair, and they were amazing… except for the fact that they sunk in water. Maybe these funny foam ones float; that would have been so useful back when I had to dive under the lake dock to retrieve one.
Perhaps it’s nostalgia, but I still think jellies pwn Crocs (though that’s not saying much as Crocs are the lowest of the low among footwear).
Crocks are awesome for doctors, nurses, and anyone else who has to be on their feet all the time. They are more comfortable and cause less foot / leg pain than $200 “nursing” shoes. But yes, very ugly.
Thank you for your post in defense of Crocs. They may not be the cutest pair of shoes but as a nurse they are wonderful on your feet… especially after 12 hours! I would rather wear Crocs than jellies anyday! Always got blisters an rash marks from the open jellies that trapped the gravel as well. They were never wide enough for my feet and my little toes always managed to pop out the side holes.
Count me among the Croc lovers too, especially in a kitchen for 8 hours. They make a version that’s got a safety sole on it that’s perfect for the slippery kitchen floor.
Crocs also make lovely heels now that aren’t ugly.
As for jellies, never liked them as a kid, but the jelly raincoats that matched them, LOVED them.
Sweated like a pig in ‘em but they were the height of fashion.
i remember BEGGING my mom for a pair… i finally got some sparkly blue one wiht the little mermaid on them… BLISTERS!!! i wore them for a grand total of an hour before my feet practically exploded. i also remember cutting off the Ariel decal on them before throwing ‘em out. i can’t believe they came back again *shudder*
Oh man the Jellies, yeah I had like three pairs, one blue sparkles, one pink for church and one silver for fun. I remember when I was four and a half I was wearing my blue sparklies and this boy (who later became my boyfriend of ten month) made fun of me so I kicked him hard lol He told one me but I didn’t care; those things were good as weapons. I figured if they hurt my feet they may as well hurt someone else with it lol
oh gosh! the blisters!
tho i seem to remember them never being worn as shoes here, only for beach excursions, i think mine had rainbow glitter.
I LOVED these shoes as a kid too! We wore them as regular shoes, but mostly they were awsome for running around in the creek catching crawdads as they protected your feet from the sharp rocks (til they ripped/broke).
I had purple glitter Jelly shoes. I remember pretending that I was a princess and they were glass slippers.
http://tallshortgirl.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/jellies.jpg
There’s a picture of the jellies I remember. Jellies were great childhood shoes!
Totally! I the clear w/glitter ones.
Yes! I had ones that were kind of whitish. Horrible for the feet (I also wore wooden soled Dr Scholls – I can’t believe I still have feet!)
Not for a dollar but I paid $3 for my fake crocs, and they are just as equally comfortable and have lasted me quite a while.
Crocs are the only shoes I can wear to stand up for 12 hour days! I take the garden hose to them every night after work : )
I had a pair of these. They were pink. And I remember that one day my Nan took me to a beach the sand was all squelchy and kept sucking our feet in. At one point when I pulled my foot back up I found that one of my shoes had gone. The same happened to my other shoe less than a minute later. I had to walk around the town barefoot until we found somewhere to get me new shoes.
I LOVED these! I had lots of them and they were so great because if they got muddy, you could just rinse them off and they didnt have stains!
my sister had some, and she absolutely adored them. great trip through memory lane, thanks.
LOL this is quite a fail, since everyone is posting about the blisters!
I don’t remember blisters, but the gravel collection, for sure!!
I’d get a rock stuck in there, and HAD to stop and dig it out because of the awful sound it would make as I walked! (I kinda liked digging gravel out of my jellies though) :p
I never got to have a pair… my mom thought them to be impractical and stupid looking… all my friends had them though… *sigh* now a days you can get jelly flip flops at wal-mart but not in my huge foot size lol!
no. those are a fail. they cut my feet open when I was 6, and I was bleeding all around wal-mart…
I busted my heels on the sharp edges of these things EVERY SINGLE DAY. But I loved them so very much. I think I had them in a few different colors.
I loved my jellies. My sister had purple and I had blue.
I remember being forced to wear these even though they were horribly painful and made my feet bleed. My mom felt that bleeding feet were an acceptable side effect of cute shoes.
The only memory I have of these is walking home from a gas station with them on and them being so painful I stopped and took them off and like..threw them >.<
I remember being about 8 and getting my first pair of clear ones. I wore them ONE day to school and then they were officially banded.
I had those as a kid! Some bright pink ones…they gave my feet blisters…
I had a pair like the one pictured and also one that was more of a slipper…my mom says I called them my “magic slipper”. Loved those things!
I had a white pair that I wore in 4th or 5th grade. I wore them out.
. I miss them :/.
I had a pair of black ones when I was a little little girl! Those things huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurt to walk in if you had them on for too long. Made the bad mistake of wearing them to march in the local Memorial Day Parade when I was in Brownies. OUCH!
~~Bee
Ohhh. My feet smelled so bad for those two years that I was obsessed with jellies… D:
i loved my jellies! i think i still have them somewhere