Adopt pets, don’t buy

Cult shoemaker Crocs has launched a fund-raiser for animal shelter Paws. Mike De Bell of Crocs tells SOFIANNI SUBKI why homeless dogs and cats deserve a second chance

HE’S no poster boy for animal welfare but thanks to him, a 14-year-old dog named Latte is living it up in California. “My wife and I adopted her as a puppy from a shelter,” says American Mike de Bell, Crocs’ vice president of sales. “We had to leave her with my sister in California when we moved to Singapore because it was too long a trip for a dog that old.”

Why Latte? “I don’t know. I mean she kind of looks like a latte, she’s brown and white,” says de Bell, laughing. “She’s a mix between an Australian shepherd and terrier. She’s got one blue eye and one brown eye. She’s a very nice dog with a very good temperament.”

Singapore-based de Bell, 45, was recently in Kuala Lumpur to launch the company’s three-month fund-raising campaign for animal shelter Paws. The footwear brand is selling 4,000 pieces of its popular paw print Jibbitz at a special price of RM8 each across the country.

All proceeds will go to Paws at Pilmoor Estate, off the Subang Airport Road. Set up by volunteers in 1987, Paws receives 400 animals a month and is under pressure to relocate because of the rapid development in that area.

The launch of the Crocs-4-Paws campaign also saw the launch of the Crocs-o-dial, a mobile phone case.

De Bell says pets are great because they’re non-judgemental and give unconditional love. “When your kids are small, they come running up to you, saying ‘Daddy’s home!’ and then they get to an age when they stop doing that and say ‘Oh, hi Dad.’” he says.

“But animals never stop running up to you. They’re always happy and excited to see you.”

On working with Paws, he says: “It’s not that we aren’t interested in helping other animal shelters, it’s just that there’s a good connection between us and PAWS.

He prefers adopting pets to buying them. “Why shouldn’t you help out and take some homeless animals in?” he says. “I mean, if you want a pet and you’re willing to love and care for it, they’re out there, you don’t need to pay for them.”

Born in Colorado and raised in California, de Bell’s career has revolved around Asia, in one way or another, since 1990. Before joining Crocs Asia, he worked for an electronics company in Singapore.

He also enjoyed US-based stints with Siliconware, a Taiwanese electronics company and Kyocera, a Japanese conglomerate.

“I find it easy to work in an Asian environment simply because I’m used to working with Asians,” he says. “There are differences between the two cultures though. In an Asian company, there’s not much questioning the boss. In an American company, you can question the boss in the right ways.”

Living in Asia has allowed his son Andrew, 18 and daughter Sydney, 16, to experience other cultures. “Living here has made it possible for my family and I to travel to other parts of Asia and understand different cultures and people,” he says. “It kind of opens your eyes. I don’t know the statistics but most Americans I know don’t even have a passport. They don’t go outside of the US.”

Growing up in Southern California, the beach was a big part of his life during junior high (lower secondary). But his favourite childhood memory was of going on vacations with his parents and older sister. “Every year, we would drive to two different States in the US,” says de Bell, who has a degree in business administration from California State University, Long Beach. “We went to every State west of Colorado, which is about 20 different States. We’d drive and camp out.”

It was his mum who taught him to keep going no matter what. “She has a lot of strength and fortitude. My parents were divorced when I was in high school. After years and years of not working, she had to go out and make it on her own.”

On shoe trends, he says people are going into more casual lifestyle shoes. In the past, casual footwear would mean just sneakers or tennis shoes.

“That’s why we’re doing shoes like the Santa Cruz,” he says, pointing to the cloth loafers he’s wearing. “It’s a traditional style shoe that still offers the benefits of Croslite and softness of the sole.”

(Croslite is the proprietary closed cell resin material used to make Crocs shoes.)

What he likes most about his job is the travelling. Last month alone, he went to Maldives, Holland, The Philippines and Hong Kong.

“I’ve probably been to more shopping malls in the last two years than I have in the previous 43 years of my life. It’s quite interesting.”