Native Shoes...fad or fashion??

I must admit, I am a Crocs 'hater', so when the guys from Native first showed me their line-up I was highly skeptical as I felt they were too much like Crocs. I have always said anything your grandma wears isn't cool and when approx. 50% of the people I saw rockin' Crocs (a lot w/ Socs) I felt there was nowhere to go but down. Along comes Native with Vans, Converse and Clarks silhouettes in 'Crocs material' (foam resin, plastic) and to my astonishment have ABSOLUTELY Killed It! Comfortable, fashionable, functional, lightweight, durable, colorful and FUN! I copped a pair and so did just about every person who tried them on. We have reordered them 3x in two weeks. I wonder if they will be a fashion brand for some time to come OR just a fad? I think they have some longevity with some of the new uppers they are dropping later this year but fear the 'knock-off' artists who are hot to trot on catching lightning in a bottle and killing a brand (as we saw with Crocs). My biggest question in ALL of this...how did Crocs NOT come up with this first?? I am sure they would have been successful but whose to say to what will happen for all companies in the compression molded footwear category...time will tell.