You overpaid. The genius of Crocs is that they have almost zero labor involved in making them. It's a shoe that's made via injection molding - essentially, you squirt foamed goo into a mold and bake until cured. I have a Dilbert squishy figure on my desk that costs less than a pair of Crocs, and it's made by the same process.
Any factory capable of doing automated injection molding can make Crocs - all they need is the right goo and a set of molds. In terms of production costs, there's no reason that Crocs should command standard footwear prices. Fashion and novelty were the only real price drivers.
Agreed. At six bucks I probably paid three times what the material costs were.
I still like them, though.